An apparatus and method for changing a channel according to direct channel change information transmitted from a broadcasting station. The apparatus includes a broadcast receiver, a tuner and a controller for checking parsed DCC information. The broadcast receiver receives a broadcast signal. The tuner tunes channels and stores the tuned channels in memory. The controller parses DCC information received in the broadcast signal and checks for a target channel included in the DCC information. The controller then changes a channel by selecting one among plural virtual channels according to a predetermined priority when several virtual channels correspond to the target channel.