Using a theoretical model incorporating recent work in the field of historical epistemology and Michel Foucault's concept of governmentality this dissertation reconsiders key moments in the history of Canadian audiovisual policy as sites for examining the production of knowledge about national cultural activity. Drawing upon archival records, interdisciplinary research and a discursive analysis of policy documents, I argue that the resolution of questions regarding the nature of cultural expertise and the evidentiary value of different forms of knowledge accompanied changing state rationale towards film and broadcasting and foreshadowed the refashioning of Canada's audiovisual sector. / To illustrate, I focus on a period between the establishment of the first Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting in 1928 and the institution of Canadian content regulations for television in 1960. During this period there are important shifts in the ways the federal government conceived of and administered the audiovisual sector. In the 1920s and 30s, broadcasting and film production were nationalized and placed within publicly funded institutions such as the CBC and NFB. However, less than twenty-five years later, policy rationale towards the audiovisual sector had shifted, with measures put in place to support the development of the cultural industries. The CBC's dominance over broadcasting and regulation had been replaced by a new structural arrangement involving both public and private broadcasters regulated by independent agencies using content quotas to ensure Canadian programming on the airwaves. In Canada's film sector, the NFB's expansion into feature film and television production was halted through policy shifts encouraging the development of the independent film production sector. / Using case studies that explore the historical context behind the emergence of key administrative techniques I document the declining influence of cultural nationalists and humanistic approaches to cultural issues and the rising influence of accountants, statisticians, and scholars from the nascent field of communication studies in the policy process. These developments run concurrently to shifting government rationale towards the audiovisual sector away from developing "national consciousness" towards the creation of a "national economy" for broadcasting and film drawing on previous industrial development models borrowed from the automotive sector and 19th century National Policy. / Although scholarly attention in the field of cultural policy studies has generally focused upon understanding why these shifts occurred, this thesis is devoted primarily towards understanding how such shifts took place. Attention to these questions moves the field of study away from the pragmatic issues of policymaking and towards larger questions surrounding the triangulation between knowledge, state, and cultural production.

No description available.

The ten year debate over the introduction of pay television in Canada is addressed using the concept of external signals to examine the interactions between the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the players in the regulatory environment. / A critique of the notions of "public interest" and of regulatory "capture" precedes the analysis. An historical overview establishes the key issues shaping the nature of the CRTC as a signal-sending and signal-receiving institution. / The evidence demonstrates that the CRTC was not a passive receptor of external signals, but actively shaped and directed or deflected incoming signals according to its own public priorities. The conclusion holds that the traditional capture model does adequately describe the CRTC's behaviour as it attempted to manage the complex political and technological forces surrounding the pay television issue.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Queen's University at Kingston, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

There exists an embedded assumption that broadcasting must be employed to strengthen the Canadian national identity. Despite efforts to Canadianize our broadcasting system, however, Canadians are watching more and more American television and have more choice of American programming. This has led to a fear of American television as a threat to Canada's continuance as a separate and independent country. By studying the contemporary Canadian context with respect to Canadian drama, the following questions will be addressed: Are Canadian interests dependent on communication policy? Is Canadian dramatic programming essential to the maintenance and enhancement of national identity and cultural sovereignty? Can the illusive quality "Canadian" be defined? Do television dramas made in Canada have distinctively Canadian characteristics and if so, how are these characteristics perceived by audiences? What are the options and alternatives that Canadian policy makers and programmers must face in the midst of the massive internationalization of culture and the onset of the 500 channel universe? In answering these questions, this study sets out to demonstrate how Canadian dramatic programming can be distinctive and unique in a way which still maintains an audience loyalty and a relevance to the Canadian way of life.

No description available.