AbstractThe broadcast DVB‐T system is an m‐QAM‐OFDM communication system that includes pilot‐symbol‐assisted modulation (PSAM) in order to enhance channel estimation at the receiver. This characteristic makes DVB‐T suitable for a mobile reception, over time‐ and frequency‐selective wireless channels. In this work, a closed‐form expression for the BER as a function of the transmission system, channel model and the channel estimation strategy employed at the receiver is derived. In addition, adjacent channel interference due to Doppler effects is also considered. The results are focused on the DVB‐T system under different scenarios. The channel estimation at the receiver has been shown to be very critical, and the impact of channel estimation errors on the BER is analysed in detail. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.