A method for scheduling the delivery of a plurality of data portions to respective recipients in a data distribution network, wherein the recipients are commonly utilizing a bottleneck element limiting the performance of the data distribution network. A proportion of recipients automatically requesting a respective data portion is determined upon receiving a respective notification message. A preferred time span for delivering the data portions is determined according to a capacity of the bottleneck element, the amount of data that is to be delivered and the proportion of recipients automatically requesting the respective data portion. The delivery of a data portion is delayed according to the preferred time span for delivering.