You're right, Sony never could work the synergy between its deep vertical component companies much. It doesn't have to be that way, though. Problem with the current video entertainment situation, I think, is the difficulty to bring about that first separation from the pact, much like Apple did with the phone companies. But remember that, Verizon laughed at the level control that Apple wanted with iPhone idea, so Apple went to AT&T. OTOH, Time&Warner and Comcast are pretty much monopolies in their areas, so there's no big competitor that a company like Google can turn to to force their hand. On top of that content providers have seen what happened in the music industry so are very weary of giving control (though the music industry is not in such bad shape as people make it appear, e.g. see this article http://www.economist.com/node/17199460?story_id=17199460&...).
So the situation is a chicken and egg problem, someone has to break through. Apple TV and Google TV has shown that this will not happen as a halfhearted effort. Either Apple or Google should bet and bet big on TV and should not shy from spending a few billion, they've got the money.
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You're right, Sony never could work the synergy between its deep vertical component companies much. It doesn't have to be that way, though. Problem with the current video entertainment situation, I think, is the difficulty to bring about that first separation from the pact, much like Apple did with the phone companies. But remember that, Verizon laughed at the level control that Apple wanted with iPhone idea, so Apple went to AT&T. OTOH, Time&Warner and Comcast are pretty much monopolies in their areas, so there's no big competitor that a company like Google can turn to to force their hand. On top of that content providers have seen what happened in the music industry so are very weary of giving control (though the music industry is not in such bad shape as people make it appear, e.g. see this article http://www.economist.com/node/17199460?story_id=17199460&...).
So the situation is a chicken and egg problem, someone has to break through. Apple TV and Google TV has shown that this will not happen as a halfhearted effort. Either Apple or Google should bet and bet big on TV and should not shy from spending a few billion, they've got the money.