Abstract: An alpha-numeric character generator arrangement having a character store (ROM) in which characters are stored in a character format contained within a co-ordinate character matrix of 10.times.6 discrete character elements. For television interlaced display using a 625-line standard, whole character shapes are displayed in both odd and even fields. For television interlaced display using a 525-line standard, only partial character shapes are displayed in each field, by omitting certain character element rows which are different for each field. The stored character set is so chosen in relation to the omitted character element rows that flicker is minimized. The reduced sized characters, as displayed, allow the same number of rows of characters per frame for the 525-line standard as for the 625-line standard.