A method and apparatus are provided for encoding video signal data for transmission in a network. The method includes the step of encoding the video signal data at a variable bit rate using at least one of a prioritized structure or a scalable coding structure to obtain a bitstream having a base layer and an enhancement layer. The encoding step encodes the video signal data such that a base layer bitrate is constrained to be less than or equal to a first value over a first time interval, and all of the bitstream, including the base layer and the enhancement layer, is constrained to a bitrate less than or equal to a second value over a second time interval.