  We present optimal competitive algorithms for two interrelated known problems
involving Steiner Arborescence. One is the continuous problem of the Symmetric
Rectilinear Steiner Arborescence (SRSA), studied by Berman and Coulston.
  A very related, but discrete problem (studied separately in the past) is the
online Multimedia Content Delivery (MCD) problem on line networks, presented
originally by Papadimitriu, Ramanathan, and Rangan. An efficient content
delivery was modeled as a low cost Steiner arborescence in a grid of
network*time they defined. We study here the version studied by Charikar,
Halperin, and Motwani (who used the same problem definitions, but removed some
constraints on the inputs).
  The bounds on the competitive ratios introduced separately in the above
papers are similar for the two problems: O(log N) for the continuous problem
and O(log n) for the network problem, where N was the number of terminals to
serve, and n was the size of the network. The lower bounds were Omega(sqrt{log
N}) and Omega(sqrt{log n}) correspondingly. Berman and Coulston conjectured
that both the upper bound and the lower bound could be improved.
  We disprove this conjecture and close these quadratic gaps for both problems.
We first present an O(sqrt{log n}) deterministic competitive algorithm for MCD
on the line, matching the lower bound. We then translate this algorithm to
become a competitive optimal algorithm O(sqrt{log N}) for SRSA. Finally, we
translate the latter back to solve MCD problem, this time competitive optimally
even in the case that the number of requests is small (that is, O(min{sqrt{log
n},sqrt{log N}})). We also present a Omega(sqrt[3]{log n}) lower bound on the
competitiveness of any randomized algorithm. Some of the techniques may be
useful in other contexts.
