Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, upon receiving a request for media content, a first signal quality may be determined, a first quality level may be selected based on the first signal quality, and segments of the first quality level may be retrieved, stored in a buffer, and played from the buffer. When the buffer is sufficiently occupied first inferior segments stored in the buffer may be replaced by determining a second signal quality selecting a second quality level based on the second signal quality, identifying the first inferior segment based on the second quality level, and replacing the first inferior segment with a first replacement segment, the first replacement segment corresponding to the first inferior segment. These processes may be performed iteratively. Other embodiments are disclosed.