A receiver for processing a VSB modulated signal containing terrestrial broadcast high definition television information includes an input analog-to-digital converter (19) for producing a digital datastream. A symbol timing recovery and segment sync recovery network (24) develops a properly timed sampling clock for the digital converter (19). The symbol timing recovery generator involves a phase detector (310) which responds to an output from the segment sync recovery (328), which in turn responds to an equalized signal from an adaptive channel equalizer (34). A controlled oscillator (336) generates the sampling clock for the digital converter. A control network (340, 344, 348) shifts the frequency range of the oscillator to maintain desired linear operation to enhance symbol timing acquisition.