A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting takes readers from the days of the telegraph to the current digital age, examining the role of public broadcasting in the wider context of regulation, private capital, and foreign programming. This comprehensive history spans over a hundred years, highlighting the shifting technological character of the media system within anglophone Canada and the key place of public broadcasting within it.

Situated in Canada’s broader economic history, David Skinner’s account ably demonstrates how broadcast regulation has been derived from the historical relationships between the Canadian state and private capital, and that this has tended to sideline its social goals. The book concludes with suggestions for encouraging the creation of distinctively Canadian programming.

Coming just after the first major reform to Canada’s broadcast legislation in three decades, A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting is a timely contribution to the history of broadcasting and the policy discussions that frame it.

David Skinner is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at York University. He has been involved with the media reform movement in Canada for over twenty-five years. He has published numerous articles and book chapters in the field, and has co-edited two books on the subject, Alternative Media in Canada and Converging Media, Diverging Politics.

What distinguishes A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting in its field is its emphasis on the institutional structure of regulation and the impact this has had on the content available in the Canadian media system. The book draws a direct line from the telegraph to the digital age, placing mass media in Canada’s wider economic context.

Marian Bredin, professor, Communication, Popular Culture, and Film, Brock University:

David Skinner’s scholarship is impeccable. His research presents a seamless fusion of ideas and perspectives from a very wide range of disciplines, brought to bear on the Canadian broadcasting policy context. As we face the current moment of technological and cultural upheaval with the rise of global digital media and online streaming services, it is an especially compelling and influential book.