Bell Media and YouTube Canada are partnering to bring more than 60 years of Canadian media history to audiences around the world, using Google’s Gemini models to help digitize, organize and surface thousands of hours of archival content. The project will make rare footage from Canadian news, music and entertainment history easier to search, preserve and share through YouTube.
The archive includes an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 physical tapes dating back to the early 1960s. Bell Media plans to digitize more than 100,000 tapes by the end of 2026, transforming decades of stored footage into a modern online library. The collection includes major cultural moments, MuchMusic interviews, W5 investigations and historic entertainment programming that helped shape Canadian broadcasting.
Google’s Gemini technology is being used to generate metadata for the archive, allowing Bell Media to quickly search and categorize large volumes of footage. The goal is to turn what was once a physical collection of tapes into a searchable digital resource that can be accessed by audiences in Canada and globally. More national media and technology coverage can be found through Weekly Voice at https://www.weeklyvoice.com and its Canada section at https://www.weeklyvoice.com/category/canada.
One of the key destinations is MuchRewind, a YouTube channel designed to bring classic MuchMusic content back to viewers. The channel features high quality raw interviews from the network’s influential era, including appearances by major artists such as Madonna, Britney Spears, Missy Elliott, Eminem and Aaliyah. For music fans, the project offers a chance to revisit moments that helped define pop culture across multiple generations.
Bell Media is also using YouTube to introduce the archive of W5, Canada’s long running newsmagazine program, to wider audiences. The initiative will allow viewers to rediscover major investigations, interviews and stories that captured important chapters in Canadian public life. The archive is also being used to support external documentary projects, including productions connected to Questlove and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
Dave Daigle, Vice President of Local TV, iHeartRadio and Bell Media Studios, said the company is using platforms such as YouTube to expand access and reach audiences where they already spend time. He described the archive as one of Bell Media’s most valuable assets and said the project is about preserving Canadian history while giving it new life through digital distribution.
Stephanie Wilson Chapin, Lead of Film, TV, Sports and News at YouTube Canada, said YouTube is proud to help Bell Media bring iconic Canadian stories out of the vault and onto a global platform. She said the effort will ensure Canadian creativity continues to reach and inspire new audiences for years to come.
The partnership reflects a major shift in how legacy broadcasters are using artificial intelligence and global platforms to preserve cultural memory. By combining archival restoration, AI based organization and YouTube distribution, Bell Media is turning decades of Canadian television history into a living digital library for future generations.
