Abstract: A receiver comprises a program acceptor for accepting program contents, and a program identifier to identify the program contents; a display unit for displaying the program contents; an input acceptor for accepting an input from a user; a display attribute acquisition unit for obtaining a display attribute by which the program contents are displayed; and a viewing information recorder for recording viewing information including the program identifier and the display attribute, on a removable recording medium, when the input acceptor accepts a predetermined user input. Therefore, the receiver can record the viewing information indicating that the user has viewed a specific program, on the removable recording medium.

Abstract: A program distribution system, capable of decreasing the load of distributing programs and capable of managing transfer and installation of programs at distribution destinations by the distribution source, is disclosed. Computer software distributed to a PC 116 includes a program for transfer, historical information of program transfer, a program for installation and an application program(s). The transfer program adds both information on a terminal to be a destination of transfer and information on a media used for the transfer to the historical information, and it transfers to a PC 172 the whole software including itself. The installation program transmits the historical information to a distribution management device 103 via a network 151 and an external connection device 104. The distribution management device 103 receives the historical information and makes a response to the PC 172 whether or not installation of the software therein is permitted.