Sony hopes a new Internet strategy will keep it from repeating mistakes it made in the past, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The company missed out on creating, owning or buying up broadcast or cable channels while other conglomerates, like Warner Bros. and Universal, did just that. That meant those competitors were cashing advertising revenue checks while Sony was not. Worse still, those networks were airing Sony-owned content around those ads.
The first of Sony's new efforts is the Minisode Network on MySpace. The network will take classic Sony TV shows and truncate them from their initial half-hour or hour runtimes to just just three to five minutes that contain the meat of the episode. Sony has also launched two original series on horror-fan site FEARnet.

Next month Sony will relaunch video-sharing site Grouper with a new name, as well as functionality that includes branded and themed channels for content. At least the first two will be launched with major advertiser support.

Sony Pictures Television President Steve Mosko says the studio's paucity of television outlets actually works to its advantage. Where other companies have to balance TV and Internet properties, ensuring one does not cannibalize the other, Sony has no such concerns.

Still, cross-media issues do play a role in its business decisions. Seinfeld, which enjoys broad syndication, has yet to be found on the Internet. Sony does not wish to devalue the show.