Abstract: An information distribution system that allows a customer to retrieve desired information from an information supplier over a communications network and be billed for the retrieved information on the customer's telephone bill. The billing feature may be implemented using existing telephone company premium-rate billing services that allow the telephone company to bill the customer for the call with the telephone company transferring a portion of the payment to the information supplier. A customer desiring to retrieve information is presented with a list of available information items. Upon a customer's selection of a desired information item, a data file is accessed that contains the telephone number of the appropriate information supplier and a retrieval code that identifies the selected information item. The customer's computing system transmits a request to the information supplier for the selected information, identified by its retrieval code.