PURPOSE: To attain quick decoding of an MH code simply and quickly by using a data on a table stored in a memory when the MH code is converted into a run length and a code length.

CONSTITUTION: In case of the reception of a character broadcast, a character signal is separated from a video signal by an extraction circuit 4 and stored temporarily in a buffer memory 5. A CPU 6 forms a table including the maximum run length, stores it in a RAM 15, uses a data where all 0s are filled to areas not reaching the maximum code length and a data buried with 1s in the said area as addresses, then the data so far are regarded identical, a character data comprising a modified Haffman code (MH code) in a memory 5 is converted into a run length and a code length, the character pattern data is transferred to a pattern memory 7 and a color data is transferred to a color memory 8.