the public prestel database consisted of a set of individual frames, which were arranged in 24 lines of 40 characters each, similar to the display used by the ceefax and oracle teletext services provided by the bbc and itv television companies. of these, the top line was reserved for the name of the information provider, the price and the page number, and the bottom line was reserved for system messages. thus there remained 22 lines (of 40 characters each) in which the ip could present information to the end user.