The historic Palace Cinema in Malton has invested in a full fibre digital future ahead of the venue’s 90th anniversary next year.

The family-owned art deco picture house has worked with North Yorkshire digital experts at NYnet to install fibre to the premises and make sure it can keep pace with rapidly changing technology in the film industry.

Before the project with NYNet, the Palace was served by two 80MB copper wire broadband circuits and an internet-based VoIP phone system.

Owner Jeremy Powell said: “The phones would regularly disconnect and we struggled to get technical support from our broadband provider.

“Films took ages to transfer because of the large file sizes and if the broadband went down during transfer, as it often did, the whole process would abort and a hard disk would have to be sent by carrier.”

Jeremy, a former BBC engineer, has always been passionate about the role technology can play in keeping film and broadcasting relevant for upcoming generations. The three screen Palace Cinema, which first opened its doors in May 1934, was one of the first to embrace the digital revolution in the film industry in 2006 as part of the UK Film Council Digital Screen Network.

He sees the investment in full fibre broadband as an essential step in the cinema’s journey as it prepares for an increasingly digital future.

The project saw NYnet connect high performance gigabit-capable fibre directly to the cinema building for maximum speed and reliability.

Alastair Taylor, CEO of NYnet, said: “The NYnet network spans the whole of North Yotkshire and means businesses like Jeremy’s can connect to the very latest digital infrastructure, enabling them to keep pace with digitalisation and futureproof their operations.

“Our fibre network has only recently become available to private organisations, although it has been serving the region’s NHS sites, emergency services, schools and public buildings for more than 15 years, providing speed and certainty where reliability is critical,” he added.

Since the project’s completion, Jeremy has not had to arrange for hard disk delivery of a film or explain to customers that the phones were out of order.

Jeremy said: “Thanks to NYnet we now have a rugged and reliable service which hasn’t let us down once.

“In fact, the service is running in the background so successfully that I forget it is even there.”