In this work, we review and extend the so-called consistency conditions for
the existence of a braneworld scenario in arbitrary dimensions in the
Brans-Dicke (BD) gravitational theory. After that, we consider the particular
case of a five-dimensional scenario which seems to have phenomenological
interesting implications. We show that, in the BD framework, it is possible to
achieve necessary conditions pointing to the possibility of accommodating
branes with positive tensions in an AdS bulk by the presence of the additional
BD scalar field, avoiding in this way the necessity of including unstable
objects in the compactification scheme. Furthermore, in the context of time
variable brane tension, it is shown that the brane tension may change its sign,
following the bulk cosmological constant sign.Comment: 15 pages, new version to appear in JHE