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.