Shared distribution of digital products using multicast

Broadband connectivity enables effective distribution of interactive multimedia content over the Internet. The successful deployment of future multimedia applications with high bandwidth requirements will depend on business models that efficiently allocate network resources based on user demands and preferences. We present a market-based allocation framework to complement existing network protocols in a scalable and feasible manner. The model exploits the redundancy of the network to share digital products among hierarchies of communities that share common demand profiles. Quality of service-based multicast is used as the underlying network protocol. While significant advances have been made in terms of the technological protocols, corresponding business models have not been explored extensively. We outline such a model accounting for the current market structure. The highlights of the business model we propose are shared distribution, hierarchy of communities and bundling of products by local distributors. Our model leads to the NP-hard problem of computation of Steiner arborescences, and we outline feasible solution heuristics.