Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for managing transcription resources. A system practicing the method retrieves a class of service for a subscriber recipient of a message deposited at a first server for transcription by a second server, determines a probability of near-term access of the message by the subscriber, assigns a weight to the message based on the class of service and the probability of the near-term access, and transcribes, at the second server, the message based on the weight. Classes of service can include a real-time class of service and/or one or more non-real-time class of service. The probability of near-term access can be based on subscriber presence, subscriber receipt of a new message notification, historical statistics of subscriber message access times, message urgency, and other message metadata. A channel manager can manage a finite number of channels between the first and second servers.