VoicePrint's Parent The National Broadcast Reading Service, the registered charity that operates VoicePrint and AudioVision Canada

The National Broadcast Reading Service Inc. (NBRS), a non-profit Canadian success story, was established in 1989 on the recommendation of the Standing Committee of the Status of Disabled Persons. The committee’s report, “No News is Bad News,” stated that vision- and print-restricted Canadians must have equal access to published news and information.

      In 1990 the CRTC licensed a reading service, called VoicePrint, to be operated by NBRS. By December 1 of that year VoicePrint went on the air, broadcasting on cable TV (on which it often was coupled with an alphanumeric video channel service: the stock market channel or Broadcast News, for example) and cable radio. Today, VoicePrint can still be accessed through cable (on the secondary audio program of CBC Newsworld and on Aliant, Eastlink and Rogers Digital), but it’s also available on satellite and the Internet.

      The 5 million print-restricted people VoicePrint is set up to reach include blind, low-vision, senior and other Canadians with limited or no access to print.

      NBRS, headquartered in Toronto, operates two divisions: VoicePrint and AudioVision Canada (AVC), the country’s pre-eminent supplier of “described video, a process many people say does for people with no or low-vision what closed-captioning does for people who are deaf — make film and other forms of on-screen entertainment more accessible. 

More on our latest Annual General Meeting (AGM)

More information about NBRS

More information about AVC

To partner with others to provide services and products that assist print-restricted Canadians reduce or overcome barriers to media and print information.