Upon receiving a request for distribution of content data, determination is made whether or not the transmission can be performed, based upon a transmission reservation table. If a user has specified the transmission point in time, a transmission device refers to the reservation state corresponding to the specified point in time, and if available, the transmission device makes a reservation for the specified transmission point in time. Otherwise, the transmission device makes a reservation for an available transmission point in time near the specified point in time, as appropriate. If the user has not specified the transmission point in time, the transmission device transmits the content data at an available point in time, as appropriate. If the transmission device cannot acquire predetermined information, and accordingly cannot determine the transmission point in time, the transmission device generates a schedule indicating that the transmission point in time has not been fixed.