A portable electronic book viewer receives electronic text and graphic files, or electronic books, by connection to a television program delivery system. The electronic books may provided as compressed data that is transmitted with a video signal. The electronic books are transmitted in the vertical blanking interval of the video signal. The electronic books may be received at a set top terminal, and stored in memory at the set top terminal. A hardware upgrade may be added to a conventional set top terminal to provide for reception, storage and processing of the electronic books. Such storage may be by way of a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk, and a magnetic cartridge for example. The portable viewer may receive the electronic books from the set top terminal. The portable viewer may then decompress the electronic books for display and viewing. The electronic books are decompressed only at the time of viewing.