Home Entertainment: Blockbuster • James Keyes
Blockbuster Wasn’t Killed by Netflix — The Asteroid That Hit the Movie Giant
In this episode, we sit down with James Keyes, former CEO of Blockbuster, to revisit one of the most iconic stories in business lore—the rise of Netflix and the fall of Blockbuster. But as Keyes explains, the real story is far more complex than the usual disruption narrative.
We explore how Blockbuster was already preparing to enter the streaming space, even holding talks with Google to build what could have been a dominant digital platform. So what happened? Keyes shares how technological limitations, bad timing, and the shock of the 2009 financial collapse—with a billion dollars in debt—intersected to create a perfect storm.
From innovation to collaboration to the role of timing in transformation, this conversation re-examines the mythology around Netflix and what could have been if the bandwidth—and the world—had been ready just a little sooner.
