To prevent concentration of a time band for a desired broadcast program and to collect the viewing charge by each contents generating agency by identifying the presence of a prescribed key code every time a plurality of scrambled contents data are received, descrambling the received contents data through the use of the key code when the key code is present, and storing the descrambled data.

A key code management section 24 of a broadcast station side unit 20 stores information denoting kinds of scrambling of all contents and information of key codes corresponding to the scramble in cross reference with each other. Then the key code management section 24 specifies contents received at present by a scramble processing section 23 on the basis of information of a distributor of contents and information of a product number received by a program management section 27 and gives the information of kinds of scramble corresponding to the specified contents to a scramble processing section 23. The scramble processing section 23 decides the kind of scramble according to this information.