Receiver software is increasingly complex. In order to guarantee the functionality of a receiver as well as increasing its functionality once deployed in the field a software update service is required. ETSI TS 102 006 specifies a standard mechanism for signalling a software update service and the means to carry the data for such a software update service. It builds on ISO/IEC 13818-6 [1], ETSI TS 101 162 [3] and ETSI EN 300 468 [4] for signalling and ETSI EN 301 192 [2] for data carriage.

The present document does not define the mandatory character of this protocol in a specific context, and it does not exclude the use of proprietary mechanisms for doing a software update. This allows a network to support horizontal market model receivers (e.g. MHP receivers). Equally it allows receivers requiring a software update service to be deployed in a network independent way.