By June the TV and film community in the Soho area of London will have its Asychronous Transfer Mode-based network for collaborative editing and production. The contract for the 155Mbps fiber ring went to Videotron Corporation Ltd which expects to have it up and running by June of this year. The cable operator beat off competition from both British Telecommunications Plc and Metropolitan Fiber Systems. Seven of Soho’s biggest production houses have got together to form Sohonet Ltd to coordinate the service. Ron Eagle of Visiontext, who doubles as the network’s marketeer, says cost was one of the critical factors that won Videotron the contract. Though tariffs are not being made public, there is a dual charge for joining the network. One to Videotron itself for connection, and one to SohoNet. For companies within the 1km square surrounding Soho the annual connection charge will cost in the region of 1,500 British pounds per annum. Sohonet will charge less than a few thousand pounds says Eagle.Sohonet itself will be a closed community; only able to receive and send pictures to other Sohonet subscribers. Eagle says Sohonet’s role is akin to that of an Internet Service Provider. Despite the name he believes companies outside central London will be eager to join and sees the network facilitating the geographical spread of the industry with Soho acting as its hub: its a great opportunity for an industry to be built on the back of Soho.
