Content delivery systems and methods are operable to provide recoverable program content to a media device. An exemplary embodiment detects an occurrence of a qualifying event, wherein the qualifying event is associated with an unavailable portion of a program of interest; communicates a request to establish a backchannel between the media device and a program content device in response to detecting the occurrence of the qualifying event; communicates a request for a recoverable portion of the program of interest from the media device to the program content device over the backchannel, wherein the requested recoverable portion of the program of interest corresponds to the unavailable portion of the program of interest; and receives at the media device the recoverable portion of the program of interest from the program content device.