In 2005, Brazil launched its digital TV (DTV) agenda. The main premise was to reduce the digital divide present in the country, giving the lower social classes the right to access, produce, and distribute information. As a natural consequence, a second premise stressed the generation of local IT jobs and companies in support of this effort. It was under these requirements that Ginga, the ITU-T DTV middleware system, was conceived. This department presents Ginga and its role in the socioeconomic development of Latin-America. It is part of a special issue on IT in Emerging Markets.