Control channel protocol and hardware-independent downstream services software design for broadband devices

A broadband terminal device that receives messages containing data destined for client applications running on the terminal. The messages are received by a control channel router via one or more input ports. The router removes the payload data from the messages and distributes the data to client applications in accordance with a predetermined priority of the ports which receive messages and requests made by client applications for the data. The terminal also includes a service acquisition interface that enables the client applications to establish connections to receive the data such that the requests made by applications for data may be hardware and protocol independent.