A method is provided in one example and can include receiving a source data stream, generating a base layer sub-stream from the source data stream, and generating an enhancement layer sub-stream from the source data stream. The method further includes communicating the base layer sub-stream to a client device using a first communication protocol, and communicating the enhancement layer sub-stream to the client device using a second communication protocol. In a particular example, the one-to-many communication protocol is a multicast communication protocol and the second communication protocol is a unicast communication protocol. In another example, the base layer sub-stream is sent to the client device via a first network connection and the enhancement layer sub-stream is sent to the client device via a second network connection.