A MIMO ARC transmitter derives demux streams (15, 20) carrying different parts of the information, at given data rates, processes each demux stream by coding and modulation (25, 30) before transmission over the channels, and varies (50, 165) the coding or modulation according to channel conditions, and controls the data rates (50, 155) according to conditions of the channels independently of the variations in coding and modulation. The separate control of processing and of data rates for each demux stream can provide a better balance of rapid response to changing conditions and efficiency in less rapidly changing conditions. The frequency of updating the processing can be limited since these take more time to adapt in the receiver. Sensitivity to rapid changes can be achieved by the data rate changes since these involve less overhead than changes in the processing.