Maybe his telly doesn't support HTML and therefore cannot render fancy images and fonts. Outlook has a setting which allows you to send mails in either plain text or HTML formats. Some webmail services (hotmail) also allow you to turn off HTML formatting. Emails on yer telly - we can't even get channel 5.
Or if you meant "what does he mean about getting emails through his telly", you can get an email address on some cable TV services. cwctv.net is the domain for Cable & Wireless, which is the parent company of NTL.
I have a hotmail email and I don't know how to use any other format. Now, though, the only thing he has inquired about his visit here is whether or not there are any local Bingo halls. Wonder why we bother sometimes :)