I get your point, and that kind of thinking is probably why they didn't go for it - understandably the risk appetite and innovative culture of a MNC is different to a burgeoning startup.
For the record, Netflix is now worth about an order of magnitude more than Sony. Should Sony have tried? Maybe. In a lot of ways they were better equipped to try but they didn't and now someone is gaining a disproportionate share of global eyeball time
How is Netflix worth an order of magnitude more than Sony? Their stock is valued at about 3 times more, which is not anywhere near an order of magnitude. That phrase is thrown around a fair amount to just mean "very big", it doesn't.
whoops mental arithmetic fail - you're totally right, not an order of magnitude more.
Still 3x is pretty impressive, and it's still disappointing (IMO) that Sony failed to launch a relevant streaming service given their expertise and interests.
For the record, Netflix is now worth about an order of magnitude more than Sony. Should Sony have tried? Maybe. In a lot of ways they were better equipped to try but they didn't and now someone is gaining a disproportionate share of global eyeball time