ROK Entertainment Group acquired text-to-speech firm Textic with the services now to be re-launched as ROK Talk.

“The acquisition of Textic represents an enormous opportunity on many levels, not least for the benefit of the blind or partially sighted, but also for the under-educated and illiterate as well as the millions of people affected by dyslexia,  worldwide,” says Jonathan Kendrick Chairman and CEO of ROK.

”In addition, there are many educational benefits through text-to-speak particularly in regard to learning English as a second language and, coupled with the fact that in the US it is law for all Governmental and commercial websites to offer text-to-speech functionality under the Americans with Disabilities Act, we are aware that similar obligations are expected to become law in the UK and across Europe in the near future,” adds Kendrick.

“Being acquired by ROK, with their global sales and marketing reach, will provide a massive boost to the deployment to the deployment of text-to-talk services worldwide” says David Shickle, Vice President of Textic “and we look forward to adding new versions of our website reader technologies for the mobile phone and eBooks under the ROK Talk banner, going-forward.”