AI Could Give Old TV Shows a Surprising Second Life
Deepdub and Spikes reveal new AI technology that could transform existing television programmes into multilingual micro-dramas and short-form series.
Thousands of hours of television drama could find entirely new audiences through a partnership that aims to transform existing programmes into short-form series with AI-generated dubbing.
Deepdub and Spikes announced their collaboration on 8 October, offering television studios and rights holders a way to repackage older productions for mobile viewing and international distribution.
Rather than producing new dramas from scratch, the companies want broadcasters to earn additional revenue from programmes they already own.
Their technology combines AI-assisted editing with multilingual voice generation, potentially making existing television libraries accessible in formats and territories they were never originally designed for.
How could an old drama become a new series?
Spikes has developed technology called Series Engine, which examines existing television episodes to identify characters, important story developments, cliffhangers and other moments that could work in shorter formats.
The software can then help reorganise longer productions into condensed episodes, micro-dramas, trailers and highlights.
A micro-drama is a shorter form of serialised entertainment, often designed for people watching vertically formatted videos on their phones.
Deepdub handles the localisation side, using expressive text-to-speech technology to generate translated dialogue. The company says its system supports more than 130 languages and dialects while maintaining recognisable character voices across episodes.
The aim is to avoid a situation where an AI-dubbed character sounds noticeably different every time a new short episode is produced.
Could British television benefit?
The potential applications extend well beyond newly commissioned programmes.
Broadcasters with extensive drama catalogues could experiment with adapting older series for international audiences or creating new short-form versions of existing material.
That could provide another distribution opportunity for producers whose programmes have already completed their original television runs. However, the partnership is not evidence that major British broadcasters have already signed up, and no specific UK television catalogue has been confirmed for the service.
There are also important creative considerations. Compressing a lengthy drama into short episodes could alter character development, pacing and the context of particular scenes. Likewise, recreating dialogue in another language raises questions about translation accuracy and the rights attached to original vocal performances.
Deepdub and Spikes believe their combined approach could process large catalogues considerably faster than traditional manual editing and dubbing.
Whether audiences embrace these new versions will depend on more than technical efficiency. The challenge is preserving the storytelling that made the original programmes worth watching.
For studios sitting on years of previously broadcast television, however, the possibility of reaching an entirely new generation of viewers could prove particularly attractive.
