A method for changing channels in a multicast adaptive bitrate (MABR) communications network (1 00A, 100B), the method comprising: receiving a channel change request from a set-top-box device disposed in a subscriber premises including a plurality of client devices (104-1 to 104-N, 106) to change to a target service channel provided as a plurality of MABR streams wherein each MABR stream corresponds to a particular bitrate representation of the target service channel; joining the requesting STB device to a multicast ABR stream having a select bitrate representation of the target service channel using a burst retransmit stream of segments corresponding to the select bitrate representation of the target service channel, wherein the burst retransmit stream is provided as an MABR stream of repeated segments of a corresponding segment of the select bitrate representation, the burst retransmit stream being transmitted in a dedicated fast channel change pipe portion of a subscriber premises bandwidth pipe allocated to the subscriber premises; wherein the joining of the requesting STB device to the target service channel further comprises: receiving a gapped stream of the select bitrate representation of the target service channel from a segmentation and gapping unit and at a matching time code reference point between the burst retransmit stream and the gapped stream of the select bitrate representation, dropping the burst retransmit stream and joining the gapped stream of the select bitrate representation; and de-gapping the joined gapped stream of the select bitrate representation for transmission to the requesting STB device; if the select bitrate representation of the target service channel is not at a correct bitrate quality provisioned for the requesting STB device, allocating or reallocating at least a portion of the bandwidth of the subscriber premises bandwidth pipe to ensure that the correct bitrate quality for the target service channel is reached. receiving a channel change request from a set-top-box device disposed in a subscriber premises including a plurality of client devices (104-1 to 104-N, 106) to change to a target service channel provided as a plurality of MABR streams wherein each MABR stream corresponds to a particular bitrate representation of the target service channel; joining the requesting STB device to a multicast ABR stream having a select bitrate representation of the target service channel using a burst retransmit stream of segments corresponding to the select bitrate representation of the target service channel, wherein the burst retransmit stream is provided as an MABR stream of repeated segments of a corresponding segment of the select bitrate representation, the burst retransmit stream being transmitted in a dedicated fast channel change pipe portion of a subscriber premises bandwidth pipe allocated to the subscriber premises; wherein the joining of the requesting STB device to the target service channel further comprises: receiving a gapped stream of the select bitrate representation of the target service channel from a segmentation and gapping unit and at a matching time code reference point between the burst retransmit stream and the gapped stream of the select bitrate representation, dropping the burst retransmit stream and joining the gapped stream of the select bitrate representation; and de-gapping the joined gapped stream of the select bitrate representation for transmission to the requesting STB device; receiving a gapped stream of the select bitrate representation of the target service channel from a segmentation and gapping unit and at a matching time code reference point between the burst retransmit stream and the gapped stream of the select bitrate representation, dropping the burst retransmit stream and joining the gapped stream of the select bitrate representation; and de-gapping the joined gapped stream of the select bitrate representation for transmission to the requesting STB device; if the select bitrate representation of the target service channel is not at a correct bitrate quality provisioned for the requesting STB device, allocating or reallocating at least a portion of the bandwidth of the subscriber premises bandwidth pipe to ensure that the correct bitrate quality for the target service channel is reached.