The present document is designed to be used in conjunction with EN 300 468 [2] and TR 101 211 [22]. The DVB System provides a means of delivering MPEG-2 Transport Streams (TS) via a variety of transmission media. These TSs have traditionally been oriented to containing MPEG-2 Video and Audio. Data broadcasting is seen as an important extension of the MPEG-2 based DVB transmission standards. Examples for data broadcasting are the download of software over satellite@ cable or terrestrial links@ the delivery of Internet services over broadcast channels (IP tunnelling)@ interactive TV@ etc. Four different application areas with different requirements for the data transport have been identified. For each application area a data broadcasting profile is specified in the present document. The following is a short description of the application areas and the profiles. Data piping: - The data broadcast specification profile for data pipes supports data broadcast services that require a simple@ asynchronous@ end-to-end delivery of data through DVB compliant broadcast networks. Data broadcast according to the data pipe specification is carried directly in the payloads of MPEG-2 TS packets (see ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1]). Data streaming: - The data broadcast specification profile for data streaming supports data broadcast services that require a streaming-oriented@ end-to-end delivery of data in either an asynchronous@ synchronous or synchronized way through DVB compliant broadcast networks. Data broadcast according to the data streaming sand the profiles.pecification is carried in Program Elementary Stream (PES) packets which are defined in MPEG-2 Systems (see ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1]). - Asynchronous data streaming is defined as the streaming of only data without any timing requirements (e.g. RS-232 data). - Synchronous data streaming is defined as the streaming of data with timing requirements in the sense that the data and clock can be regenerated at the receiver into a synchronous data stream (e.g. E1@ T1). Synchronized data streaming is defined as the streaming of data with timing requirements in the sense that the data within the stream can be played back in synchronization with other kinds of data streams (e.g. audio@ video). Multiprotocol encapsulation: - The data broadcast specification profile for multiprotocol encapsulation supports data broadcast services that require the transmission of datagrams of communication protocols via DVB compliant broadcast networks. The transmission of datagrams according to the multiprotocol encapsulation specification is done by encapsulating the datagrams in DSM-CC sections (see ISO/IEC 13818-6 [3])@ which are compliant with the MPEG-2 private section format (see ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1]). - The data broadcast specification support a standard mechanism for signalling IP/MAC services deployed within DVB networks and enables the implementation of DVB receivers that are completely self-tuning when accessing IP/MAC streams on one or more transport streams. The signalling mechanism is provided via the IP/MAC Notification Table (INT). The mechanism builds on [2]@ [21] and [3] for signalling and the current specification for data carriage. Data carousels: - The data broadcast specification for data carousels supports data broadcast services that require the periodic transmission of data modules through DVB compliant broadcast networks. The modules are of known sizes and may be updated@ added to@ or removed from the data carousel in time. Modules can be clustered into a group of modules if required by the service. Likewise@ groups can in turn be clustered into SuperGroups. - Data broadcast according to the data carousel specification is transmitted in a DSM-CC data carousel which is defined in MPEG-2 DSM-CC (see ISO/IEC 13818-6 [3]). The present document defines additional structures and descriptors to be used in DVB compliant networks. The method is such that no explicit references are made to PIDs and timing parameters enabling preparation of the content off-line. Object carousels: - The object carousel specification has been added in order to support data broadcast services that require the periodic broadcasting of DSM-CC User-User (U-U) Objects through DVB compliant broadcast networks@ specifically as defined by DVB Systems for Interactive Services (SIS) (see ETS 300 802 [8]). Data broadcast according to the DVB object carousel specification is transmitted according to the DSM-CC Object Carousel and DSM-CC Data Carousel specification which are defined in MPEG-2 DSM-CC (see ISO/IEC 13818-6 [3]). Higher protocols based on asynchronous data streams: - The data broadcast specification profile for higher protocols based on asynchronous data streams supports the transmission of protocols that require a stream-oriented delivery of asynchronous data through DVB compliant broadcast networks. The data frames of these protocols are carried in Program Elementary Stream (PES) packets which are defined in MPEG-2 Systems (see ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1]).