To provide a moving picture viewing method whereby a noted viewing object, the importance of real-time performance, a resolution, and an area to be viewed or the like can be designated and a moving picture with quality optimum to a network environment can be viewed.

A communication terminal 10 receives a summary picture indicating a summary of a moving picture to be viewed from a moving picture distribution server (hereinafter called the server) 11, and designates view information from the summary picture. The communication terminal 10 transmits the designated view information to the server 11 and receives the designated moving picture on the basis of the view information from the server 11. Further, the communication terminal 10 receives a quality information list of the designated moving picture which the server 11 can distribute from the server 11. The communication terminal 10 generates flow information on the basis of the quality information list and allocates a bandwidth to each flow of the designated moving picture on the basis of the flow information. The communication terminal 10 transmits the selected quality information to the server 11 on the basis of the quality information list and the allocated bandwidths and receives the designated moving picture with the selected quality from the server 11.

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