Method and system for providing custom background-downloads

A method and system of providing custom background-downloads, where content is selected for background downloading to a subscriber based on an analysis of the current time, the subscriber's current location, and online transaction history records regarding a plurality of subscribers over time, each record indicating content that was a subject of the transaction. A custom content server may determine the subscriber's current location and the current time, and the server may then select transaction history records reflecting transactions that occurred in the past at a similar location and time (possibly just records for transactions involving the subscriber currently at issue). The server may then select one or more pieces of available content based on their similarity to the content indicated by the selected transaction records. And the server may background-download the selected content to the subscriber. The invention can be used to provide custom-channel definitions or custom content-catalogs, for instance.