Abstract: A video conversational data communication network (30) in which subscribers (34, 36) may conduct conversational video textual data communications with one or more keystations (70, 602, 98) in the network (30). Each keystation (70, 602, 98) is associated with a keystation terminal controller interface (68, 96, 600) which is in turn connected to a message switching node (32) for routing calls throughout the network (30). The keystation controller interface (68, 96, 600) locally stores (304, 306) video conversational textual data for its associated keystations (70, 82, 84, 98, 100, 602) and enables two different designated keystations to conduct two different video conversations with a common keystation in a split screen display (76). The split screen display (76) may also be used to display retrievable data from a data base (50, 52) for simultaneous display (76) along with a video conversation.