a television receiver for displaying a video signal representing a first frame with a first aspect ratio is described wherein the video signal includes a coded character signal to be reproduced within the first frame . the receiver includes : a decoding unit for decoding the coded character signal ; a first converter for converting the video signal into a second video signal to be reproduced to have a second frame with a second aspect ratio in accordance with a mode signal ; a second converter for converting the decoded character signal into a second character signal to be reproduced to have a third frame smaller than the second frame ; and a displaying unit for displaying the second video signal and the second character signal with characters from the second character signal being superimposed on a video image reproduced from the second video signal . the second converter controls start position and size of displayed characters by controlling counters used for determining the start position and size . alternatively , a frequency of a clock signal used for determining the start position and size may be controlled .