Extract of Disney’s Content Production and Distribution Holdings Although the traditional media companies first steps into the digital sphere were fairly clumsy, they have quickly learned from their mistakes and continued to enlarge their Internet presence. Time Warner now for instance operates about 130 Web-Sites (http://www.timewarner.com/corp/about/pubarchive/websites.html). Anyhow the stronger online-engagement of the big media conglomerates by 1998 has led to the establishment of a new pattern: "More than three-quarters of the 31 most visited news and entertainment websites were affiliated with large media firms, and most of the rest were connected to outfits like AOL and Microsoft." (Broadcasting and Cable, 6/22/98). During the last years many of the smaller players in the field of digital media have been driven out of competition by the huge media conglomerates. This mainly is a result of the advantages that the commercial media giants have over their less powerful counterparts: As engagement in online activities mostly does not lead to quick profits, investors must be able to take losses, which only powerful companies are able to. Traditional media outlets usually have huge stocks of digital programming, which they can easily plug into the Internet at little extra cost. To generate audience, the big media conglomerates constantly promote their Websites and other digital media products on their traditional media holdings. As possessors of the hottest "brands" commercial media companies often get premier locations from browser software makers, Internet service providers, search engines and portals. Having the financial resources at their disposition the big media firms are aggressive investors in start-up Internet media companies. Commercial media companies have close and long ties to advertisers, which enables them to seize most of these revenues.

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Chappe's fixed optical network Claude Chappe built a fixed optical network between Paris and Lille. Covering a distance of about 240kms, it consisted of fifteen towers with semaphores. Because this communication system was destined to practical military use, the transmitted messages were encoded. The messages were kept such secretly, even those who transmit them from tower to tower did not capture their meaning, they just transmitted codes they did not understand. Depending on weather conditions, messages could be sent at a speed of 2880 kms/hr at best. Forerunners of Chappe's optical network are the Roman smoke signals network and Aeneas Tacitus' optical communication system. For more information on early communication networks see Gerard J. Holzmann and Bjoern Pehrson, The Early History of Data Networks.

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