Come on - there must be some kind of fix for this problem!!
I would assume that the 'LastUpdateTimestamp' reg key that appears beside the 'ServiceURL' key was ment to keep the templates in sync.
And the 'startdate' and 'enddate' in the XML should only be like a "please dispose this old stuff after xx-xx-xx". Anyway the .docx are NOT downloaded to the client - only the thumbnails.

The problem is described in this old post:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officesetupdeploy/thread/fbc4bf23-c9fb-4a6c-a981-49f68127bf77

Quote from the post:
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I agree this is a joke. The xml is simply a loader for the first time the reg key is accessed by Word as once the Content Registry keys are written the xml file is basically redundant. You can modify the XML file until the cows come home but the modifications will never appear in the Custom templates list. Having to delete the Content keys prior to opening Word each time to ensure you have the latest xml loaded is BAD and in a corporate environment not just frowned upon but damn near impossible to get approved. I have hundreds of templates with templates being added and deleted on a regular basis. This is NOT a viable solution for anyone who works in a corporate environment.
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Hi, fortunately in the client environment I deployed this to they use Group Policy and specifically GPP (Group Policy Preferences).

All I did to "force" Word to reload the template each time was establish a policy to delete the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\Spotlight\Content

Also, it suited the environment as 99% of the time the users are local to the network and reloading the xml file and caching any graphics did not impact the network.

HTH.

Yes, but this is a "dirty workaround" not a fix!

Are you sure NO files are re-transmitted....I am not... That requires some Wireshark work...

If you got 200 clients and 30 templates (containing 3 files each), that is 200*30*3 = 18.000 file requests that your server has to serve to your clients - EVERY DAY - and completely unnecessary by my humble opinion!

If MS was not so lazy, and actually completed this template rollout system, to only REFRESH files, and by a timer/revision flag or likewise - that would be a fix!