To shorten the time needed to download contents and so on.

A center server 40 receives contents from contents servers 50-1 to 50-n and sends the contents to local servers 20-1 to 20-n of middlemen 1 to (n) through a public network 30. The local servers 20-1 to 20-n transmit the received contents to a (user) terminal 10 through a LAN. Thus, the contents are distributed to the respective local servers through relatively-slow transmission lines of the public network. Then transmission lines of a LAN faster than the public network is used from the local servers to end users, to download the contents in a short time and also economically since the public network is not used directly.