A system includes a content server device for performing content distribution in a network; a reception terminal device capable of reproducing a content having a specific format; a plurality of transcoder devices provided in the network, for applying format conversion to a content distributed in the network; and a transcoder management device for searching, in response to a search request sent from the reception terminal device, information on the plurality of transcoder devices, and sending to the reception terminal device, as a search result, a transmission path which runs from the content server device to the reception terminal device via at least one of the plurality of transcoder devices, through which format conversion to a desired content can be performed.