Media delivery competition with edge cloud, remote cloud and networking

We describe a marketplace for content (digital media) distribution, specifically stored-video streaming, involving both edge cloud (fog) and remote cloud-computing and storage resources. Three different types of competing participants are considered: providers that are affiliated with the remote cloud, those that are affiliated with the ISP/edge, and those affiliated with neither. For a simple model, we explore the existence of a Nash equilibrium. Furthermore, we formulate a leader-follower game involving a market regulator maximizing social welfare and study its Stackelberg equilibrium. For a market regulator seeking to limit prices charged by an edge-cloud entrant, we show an interesting trade-off between “moderate” edge-cloud prices and the existence of a follower (Nash) equilibrium.