Method and system for advanced notification of availability of fast content switching

Disclosed herein is a method and system for triggering fast-content-switching with respect to streaming media such as RTSP streaming media for instance. When a server receives a DESCRIBE request or the like from a client that is engaged in an existing streaming media session, the server will determine if fast-content-switching is supported for switching from the existing session to the newly requested session. If so, the server will include in its reply to the DESCRIBE request a parameter (one or more pieces of data) that is interpretable by the client to mean that fast-content-switching is supported, so that the client will then request the server to start the new session without the client first engaging in SETUP transactions with respect to each media stream of the new session. This process can decrease latency in switching between sessions, by reducing the likelihood that a requested fast-content-switch will fail.