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Comment by schnevets | Hacker News Reader

In the same year that Reed Hastings was laughed out of the conference room, Blockbuster announced a partnership with Enron for Videos on Demand. https://www.forbes.com/2000/07/20/mu4.html#545092873541

The partnership lasted a single year. I wonder which event happened first? If they met with Enron first, it seems the morale is to move fast and never underestimate what the future holds. If they met with Netflix first, I'd say it's don't be as skeptical to the big guys as you are to the startup.

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It seems so bizarre - a rental company would stream video, through an energy company's fiber optic cables. Didn't this seem incongruous to anyone at the time?

https://youtu.be/5sMXR7rK40U?t=6m8s

The idea of “Enron Broadband” seemed ridiculous to me at the time.

Enron didn't have any last mile broadband capability. How did this deal get done?

The same way all of Enron's deals got done. Lies about capabilities/offerings and then shady accounting to cover up reality.

Another video talks about Enron using mark-to-market bookkeeping to record $100 million in revenue from the 20-year deal.

https://youtu.be/hwollZoVmUc?t=4m44s

Yup, which was their MO. Skilling insisted the company move to mark-to-market accounting, something not common with non-financial companies (and for good reason), which meant marking down the perceived value of the contract and then later, not bothering to update for the loss.

Enron provided backhaul, last mile was handled by various DSL providers depending on region. Of course ultimately the deal didn't get done, the service was available in a handful of test markets for ~3 months before the whole thing was canceled.

Is it because telco was a lot different back then with all the clecs and the bells sharing co space?

Old Enron commercial on selling unused broadband capacity like a commodity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnWbI9RzJqY

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