An approach is provided for encoding short frame length Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes. An encoder generates a LDPC code having an outer Bose Chaudhuri Hocquenghem (BCH) code. Structure is imposed on the LDPC codes by restricting portion part of the parity check matrix to be lower triangular and/or satisfying other requirements such that the communication between bit nodes and check nodes of the decoder is simplified. Further, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) encoder is supplied to encode the input signal according to a CRC code. This approach has particular application in digital video broadcast services over satellite.