A method comprising: receiving, from a client device associated with a user profile, a lease start request (302, 702) for media content for which the user profile is authorized; identifying a number of available slots for progressively downloading content (304, 704) wherein the number of available slots is the number of content download sessions that are available for servicing the lease start request; in response to determining that the number of available slots is zero, sending a rejection notification to the client device in response to the lease start request (306, 708); and in response to determining that the number of available slots is greater than zero: assigning an available slot from the number of available slots to the client device to yield an assigned slot (308, 710); transmitting security information, a lease key, and a lease duration associated with the assigned slot to the client device in response to the lease start request (310, 712), wherein the security information and lease key allow the client device to start a progressive download of the media content for the lease duration, wherein the lease duration is set according to a policy that requires the lease duration to be shorter than a playback duration of the media content such that the lease duration is a specific percentage of the playback duration of the media content. receiving, from a client device associated with a user profile, a lease start request (302, 702) for media content for which the user profile is authorized; identifying a number of available slots for progressively downloading content (304, 704) wherein the number of available slots is the number of content download sessions that are available for servicing the lease start request; in response to determining that the number of available slots is zero, sending a rejection notification to the client device in response to the lease start request (306, 708); and in response to determining that the number of available slots is greater than zero: assigning an available slot from the number of available slots to the client device to yield an assigned slot (308, 710); transmitting security information, a lease key, and a lease duration associated with the assigned slot to the client device in response to the lease start request (310, 712), wherein the security information and lease key allow the client device to start a progressive download of the media content for the lease duration, wherein the lease duration is set according to a policy that requires the lease duration to be shorter than a playback duration of the media content such that the lease duration is a specific percentage of the playback duration of the media content. assigning an available slot from the number of available slots to the client device to yield an assigned slot (308, 710); transmitting security information, a lease key, and a lease duration associated with the assigned slot to the client device in response to the lease start request (310, 712), wherein the security information and lease key allow the client device to start a progressive download of the media content for the lease duration, wherein the lease duration is set according to a policy that requires the lease duration to be shorter than a playback duration of the media content such that the lease duration is a specific percentage of the playback duration of the media content.