Strange, Netflix works fine on Android Linux. What's desktop Linux doing wrong?
1. Is that someone demanded this from the distribution company. We know the MPAA, RIAA, etc can make odd decisions about this sorta thing 2. They can't find the engineers. They struggled for the Android engineers and had (still do?) have open positions for it. That's how we knew Netflix was coming to Android long before anything was seen. They had job postings for Android video experts.
Anyway, to answer your question, it has nothing to do with desktop linux but rather hardware. Chromebook, most Android devices, Roku etc typically have hardware DRM enabled that allows Netflix to run on the device.
"Setting aside the debate around the value of content protection and DRM, they are requirements we must fulfill in order to obtain content from major studios for our subscribers to enjoy."
If Netflix was that important to desktop linux users, the distros would have coaxed a Silverlight implementation from MS or worked on the HAL-Flash schism or done SOMETHING to enable video streaming services to do their legal duty to their content providers. They didn't, no Netflix for you. Hardware DRM assistance is helpful, but clearly not required.