A digital broadcast transmission device generates channel combination information associating a plurality of physical channels. The digital broadcast transmission device divides a bit stream into a plurality of bit streams, the bit stream including program-related information having added thereto channel combination information, and transmits the divided bit streams on the plurality of physical channels, respectively. A digital broadcast reception device selects the plurality of physical channels using a plurality of front ends based on the channel combination information, and demodulates broadcast waves received on the plurality of physical channels, respectively. The digital broadcast reception device combines bit streams obtained from the demodulation, and outputs the combined bit stream. The digital broadcast reception device also simultaneously transmits a light bit stream on a different single physical channel, the light bit stream being a bit stream smaller in amount of information than the combined bit stream.