Methods and apparatus for RF channel switching in a multi-frequency network. In an aspect, a method includes identifying a local area operations infrastructure (LOI) in the multi-frequency network, generating a channel description message that associates at least one descrambling sequence identifier with each RF channel associated with the LOI, respectively, and distributing the CDM over the LOI. In another aspect, a method includes receiving a CDM that associates at least one descrambling sequence identifier with each RF channel available in a LOI, detecting an RF channel switch event that identifies a selected RF channel, determining a selected descrambling sequence identifier from the CDM based on the selected RF channel, switching to the selected RF channel wherein the selected descrambling sequence identifier identifies a selected descrambling sequence to descramble desired content carried on the selected RF channel, and acquiring the desired content on the selected RF channel.