Patent ID: 8214855

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a program stream from a program source on a first channel; detecting an unrecoverable error in the program stream, wherein detecting the unrecoverable error comprises detecting a condition of exceeding a size of a retransmission buffer in a retransmission function associated with the program stream; receiving a standalone decodable repair stream from an error repair source on a second channel, the repair stream referring to a portion of the program stream, the portion corresponding to the unrecoverable error and received in less-than-real-time to accommodate the size of the retransmission buffer, wherein the portion corresponding to the unrecoverable error is received as a lower class of service than a class of service of the program stream, wherein receiving the portion corresponding to the unrecoverable error as the lower class of service comprises receiving an alternate portion corresponding to the unrecoverable error, the alternate portion having less content than the portion corresponding to the unrecoverable error; and combining the repair stream and the program stream to produce a presentable stream for user viewing at a delay based upon subscriber viewing behavior.