Sphere and Disguise sign multi-year technology deal

Sphere and Disguise have signed a multi-year deal to develop custom technology for Sphere's venues. Sphere will be first to bring Disguise's next-generation tech to market.

The new agreement is, of course, not the first time the two companies have worked together. Disguise has been a technology partner to Sphere since it opened in 2023. For live residency productions and corporate events, Sphere already uses Disguise media servers and software to process, synchronize, and play back content in real time.

The companies are now expanding the relationship to develop technologies and workflows for video playback, and to help prepare Sphere for its next phase of global growth.

As a result, Sphere will be the first partner to bring Disguise's next-generation technology to market.

Ryan Dolan, Executive Vice President, Head of Event & Interactive Technology at Sphere, said the company is looking forward to "developing future iterations of immersive productions to support our long-term vision of offering these experiences to audiences in new Sphere venues around the world." Disguise CEO Fernando Küfer said the company will now focus on expanding Sphere's video offerings around Disguise's technology, following three years of development work with Sphere.

Spherecasts coming?

Unpacking that, it looks like what the companies are mainly working on is live “spherecasts” where a live event takes place in one Sphere, and audiences at other Spheres around the world can also tune in and get the full giant-screen experience. Such limited broadcasts have been a decent revenue generator for cinemas around the world, especially for cultural events. As Sphere expands, it makes sense to take the popular band residencies it specializes in and distribute them further afield than Las Vegas.

Two new Spheres are currently planned. One, in Abu Dhabi, matches the Vegas original’s 20,000 capacity in scale; the other, at National Harbor in Maryland, is a smaller 6000-seat venue. A London-based one was sadly refused planning permission, but discussions are underway for a new venue in Nashville.

CEO James Dolan isn’t short of ambition for more either. “I really want five, six years from now, have five venues up or more and have another five that are under construction,” he said on the company’s most recent earnings call.