In an embodiment, an application server determines a priority associated with a given multicast message for transmission to at least one access terminal, configures the given multicast message to indicate the priority of the given multicast message and forwards the configured multicast message to an access network for transmission to the at least one access terminal a number of times based at least in part on the indicated priority. Alternatively, the application server can indicate, in the configured multicast message, the number of times to transmit the given multicast message. The priority, or number of times to transmit the given multicast message, can be conveyed to the access network by a flag inserted into the configured multicast message by the application server. The access network determines the number of times to transmit the given multicast message to the at least one access terminal based on the flag.