Idealistically and technologically there was nothing preventing them from streaming directly, but realistically they had decades of contracts to re-engineer to do so, not to mention the fact that they are huge companies with a fundamental stability that prevents them from innovating.

From somewhere else (via NFLX Wikipedia):

In a 2010 New York Times interview, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes downplayed Netflix as a threat to more traditional media companies. Bewkes told the newspaper, "It's a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world? I don’t think so." At the same time, he recognized that the company's DVD service may have contributed to a decline in DVD sales, and regarding the industry's willingness to make special deals with Netflix in the future, he added "this has been an era of experimentation, and I think it's coming to a close."

Oh, I see what you're saying now; the "large ships" are the current content holders.

I agree, and this is why netflix has time to build up a library of original content. It's bootstrapping its success off the backs of its future competitors. I will predict though, that when Disney's current contract with netflix expires (2020ish IIRC), they won't renew.