Methods and apparatus for transmission of selected segments of information (such as system context information). In one embodiment, a cognitive pilot channel base station (CPC-BS) is disclosed that enables the distribution of context information to various user equipment and mobile devices in an efficient manner. The exemplary CPC-BS is also optionally capable of distributing sensing tasks to external entities, and compiling the data results from these distributed tasks for use in performing future CPC transmissions based e.g., on the operational mode of the system. On-demand provisioning of context information over both broadcast and peer-to-peer communications with served users is also disclosed. In addition to the distribution of context information via the use of a single CPC-BS, master-slave relationships between multiple CPC-BSs are also described, which permit for a distributed architecture in providing context information to served users.