Pricing game and evolution dynamics for mobile video streaming

Abstract

The recent developments of smart mobile phones and 3G networks enable users to enjoy video programs by subscribing to data plans. Due to phone-to-phone communication technologies and ubiquity of mobile phones, data-plan subscribers are able to redistribute the video content to non-subscribers. Such a redistribution mechanism is a potential competitor for the mobile service provider and is very dif cult to trace given users' high mobility. The service provider has to set a reasonable price for the data plan to prevent such unauthorized re-distribution behavior to protect or maximize his/her own pro t. In this paper, we investigate the evolutionarily stable ratio of mobile users who decide to subscribe to the data plan. Such an analysis can help the service provider preserve his/her pro t under the threat of the redistribution networks and can improve the quality of service for end users.