A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting: Public Good versus Private Profit
Spanning over a hundred years of Canadian content, regulation, and change, this book sets the arc of the country’s broadcasting history inside its wider economic history. 

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 choice 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. 
1146296875
A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting: Public Good versus Private Profit
Spanning over a hundred years of Canadian content, regulation, and change, this book sets the arc of the country’s broadcasting history inside its wider economic history. 

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 choice 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. 
42.95 Pre Order
A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting: Public Good versus Private Profit

A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting: Public Good versus Private Profit

by David Skinner
A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting: Public Good versus Private Profit

A Political Economy of Canadian Broadcasting: Public Good versus Private Profit

by David Skinner

Paperback

$42.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on October 6, 2025

Related collections and offers


Overview

Spanning over a hundred years of Canadian content, regulation, and change, this book sets the arc of the country’s broadcasting history inside its wider economic history. 

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 choice 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. 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780774871471
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
Publication date: 10/06/2025
Pages: 344
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

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: A Political Economy of News Media in the United States and Canada.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 The Development Context of Canadian Communications Policy: The Economy, the State, and the Regulatory Tradition

2 Market, State, Culture: From Telegraphs to Broadcasting

3 The CRBC and the Making of the National Radio Broadcasting System

4 The CBC and the Entrenchment of Canadian Broadcasting

5 Television and Early Postwar Canadian Broadcasting Policy

6 The Emergence of the Dual System

7 The Capitalization of Canadian Communication and Culture

8 The Rise of the Transactional Audience

9 Plus ça change

Conclusion

Notes; Works Cited; Index

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews