To provide a video-on-demand system capable of immediate viewing and listening to a program at a desired time which a subscriber hopes by using an existing CATV network.

Image information such as a film program is converted and compressed into a digital signal, ad accumulated and stored in a data base 2/in a CATV station 1 and/or in a data base in an external data base center 9. Moreover, this data base center 9 and the CATV stations 1 and 5 are connected to each other with private speed lines 10 and 11. Also, as a converter of a terminal on the subscriber's side, the device is added to by a storage part for storing compressed image data transmitted from the data base in the data base center 9, by repeating the data base in the CATV station and/or the CATV station, an extension part for converting these compressed image, data into the original picture data and a control part for controlling operations of this storage part and the extension part, other than by a conventional converter main circuit.