Bell has partnered with Google to use the company’s Gemini AI tech to help digitize and preserve decades of old Canadian videos on YouTube.
The company notes that it has an archive of 300,000 to 400,000 physical tapes representing over 250,000 hours of news, music and entertainment programming dating back to the early 1960s. With Gemini, Bell says it can generate metadata to instantly search and categorize thousands of hours of footage to make it easier to manage. On top of that, Bell says it’s looking into AI-powered partnerships that can enable automated clipping and publishing to further bolster preservation efforts.
The company says it plans to curate its catalogue into “specialized digital destinations” like:
- MuchRewind: a YouTube channel featuring HD, raw MuchMusic interviews with the likes of Madonna, Eminem, Britney Spears, Missy Elliott and Aaliyah
- Legacy Revived: Historic W5 content on its official YouTube channel, as well as Etalk bringing its 25-year catalogue to its own YouTube channel
- Cultural Restoration: a YouTube channel focused on documentaries like an upcoming Questlove HBO project and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Bell says it plans to have more than 100,000 tapes converted to YouTube videos by the end of 2026, with efforts to archive the rest of its catalogue continuing thereafter.
Image credit: Bell
Source: Bell
