the original idea was to persuade consumers to buy a modified television set with an inbuilt modem and a keypad remote control in order to access the service, but no more than a handful of models were ever marketed and they were prohibitively expensive. eventually set-top boxes were made available, and some organisations made these available as part of their subscription, for example branded tandata terminals were provided by the nottingham building society for its customers, who could make financial transactions via prestel.