5 ms·

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?

• mjcl 8y ago
  The idea of “Enron Broadband” seemed ridiculous to me at the time.
  • martinald 8y ago
    Enron didn't have any last mile broadband capability. How did this deal get done?
    • filmgirlcw 8y ago
      The same way all of Enron's deals got done. Lies about capabilities/offerings and then shady accounting to cover up reality.
      • stephengillie 8y ago
        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 https://youtu.be/hwollZoVmUc?t=4m44s
        • filmgirlcw 8y ago
          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.
    • opencl 8y ago
      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.
    • deelowe 8y ago
      Is it because telco was a lot different back then with all the clecs and the bells sharing co space?
• pwned1 8y ago
  Old Enron commercial on selling unused broadband capacity like a commodity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnWbI9RzJqY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnWbI9RzJqY