An efficient and reliable encoding method suitable for header information in a digital cable television transmission system is provided. An embodiment is shown for FEC frame headers in a DVB-C2 standard, along with the detection algorithm for the FEC header. In the DVB-C2 Standard, Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) or Variable Coding and Modulation (VCM) is applied to each FEC block to provide as much flexibility as possible. As a result, a frame header is attached in front of each FEC frame to inform the coding rate, modulation type and physical layer pipe identifier. Besides the signaling of physical layer related information, the FEC frame header has to provide a structure so that it can be easily and reliably detected in the receiver. Motivated by the need in DVB-C2 Standard, an efficient and reliable method and apparatus to encode the FEC header for DVB-C2 Standard is provided in at least one implementation in this disclosure. In addition, the detection algorithm of the FEC header is described.