A memory addressing scheme suitable for use for either interleaving or de-interleaving data bytes of, e.g., a broadcast digital television (DTV) data stream. A number of memory branches are configured in a random access memory (RAM), wherein at least some of the branches have different numbers of memory locations for reading out and for storing data bytes, thus defining memory branches of different lengths in the RAM. A start address is determined for each of the memory branches in the RAM, corresponding to a first memory location of each branch. An offset value is determined for each memory branch, to be added to the start address for the branch for addressing a memory location of the branch. If an offset value does not exceed the length of a corresponding branch, an address corresponding to the sum of the branch start address and the offset value is generated for addressing a successive memory location of the branch, and the offset value for the branch is incremented by one. When an offset value equals the length of a corresponding branch, an address corresponding to a last memory location of the branch is generated, and the offset value for the branch is reset to zero.