Canadian Television Today

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

Written by two professors at the University of Calgary, this provocative
study about the state of Canadian television should appeal to general as
well as special-interest audiences.

Canadian Television Today begins with a context-setting introduction
that describes the history of television in Canada and some of its real
and perceived impacts on Canadian culture. In the first of the book’s
three chapters, “Regulation,” the authors examine the major
stakeholders, from government regulators and producers to broadcasters
and lobbyists, and how their interactions affect the overall state of
the industry. Drawing on comparisons with European and American
regulatory agencies, they seek to dispel some of the myths, platitudes,
and rhetoric that they claim current Canadian regulations were intended
to support. In Chapter 2, “Programming,” the authors conclude that
programming will undergo significant changes resulting from the
revolution described in the third chapter, “Technology.”

Beaty and Sullivan, who anticipate enormous benefits stemming from new
regulations, programming, and technology, argue that Canada “should
throw its television culture open to the world in order to better serve
the cultural needs of its citizens.” Their informative and
well-articulated position advances the debate about the future for
Canadian television.