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Enron and Blockbuster Launch Entertainment On-Demand Service Over Broadband Network

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Enron and Blockbuster have commenced delivering movies via the Blockbuster Entertainment On-Demand service over Enron's broadband network in Seattle, Portland, and Salt Lake City. This launch fulfills the companies' objective to deliver the entertainment on-demand service to consumers' televisions by the end of the year. The service allows consumers to start, stop, pause, rewind, and view movies on demand with television quality.

Key Takeaways:

  • The launch of the Blockbuster Entertainment On-Demand service over Enron's broadband network is a significant milestone in the companies' partnership, with the service being delivered to consumers in Seattle, Portland, and Salt Lake City.
  • Enron is providing bandwidth on demand, managing content and storage, and ensuring an unparalleled quality of service for the Blockbuster Entertainment On-Demand service.
  • The service has been well-received by customers, with the successful development and execution of a solid technical and commercial foundation for delivering entertainment on-demand.
  • Entertainment options such as sports, education, and family entertainment programming are being explored for the future, in addition to movies.
  • Blockbuster has signed an agreement with FiberRide to deliver the entertainment service in select California markets in the future, in addition to previously announced distribution providers.
  • Mark Gilman, president of Blockbuster New Media, stated that the company believes it is positioned to accelerate the rollout of the service as content providers release more films for broadband use.
  • Ken Rice, chairman and CEO of Enron Broadband Services, emphasized the successful development and execution of a solid technical and commercial foundation for delivering entertainment on-demand.

Statistics:

  • The Enron Broadband Operating System allows application developers to dynamically provision bandwidth for the quality of service necessary to deliver broadband content.
  • Enron has revenues of $40 billion in 1999 and $60 billion for the first nine months of 2000.
  • Fortune magazine has named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for five consecutive years, the top company for "Quality of Management" and the second best company for "Employee Talent".
  • Blockbuster has approximately 7,500 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia, making it the world's leading renter of videos, DVDs, and video games.
  • The Blockbuster Entertainment On-Demand service is being conducted technical trials in New York City, in addition to Seattle, Portland, and Salt Lake City.

Sources:

  • Enron News Release, "Enron and Blockbuster Launch Entertainment On-Demand Service Over Broadband Network", December 18.
  • Blockbuster Press Release, "Blockbuster Enters the On-Demand Era", December 18.
  • Enron's Internet address is www.enron.com.
  • Blockbuster's Internet address is blockbuster.com.
  • Viacom's Internet address is www.viacom.com.

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