The Influence Of Television On Canadian Culture

Canadian television has long been an underappreciated and underestimated culture medium, which has yet to make an impact on the Canadian cultural identity. It’s not that Canadian’s disregard television as a means of entertainment; but rather that many Canadian’s have ignored the domestic content on their television screens. This can be attributed to Canadian television’s “reputation for being both cheap, and cheap looking.” (Houpt, 2014); as the industry has often created dramas and reality television, which unsuccessfully mimic the American counterpart that viewers are already watching (Tinic, 2010). Original local programming has yet to be as impactful in Canadian culture as it is in the cultures of other nations, such as the United States

and the United Kingdom. However, the recent decentralization of television consumption has given the Canadian television industry many new avenues to distribute original Canadian content, specifically to niche audiences around the country. I intend to demonstrate that while Canadian’s cultural identities have yet to be significantly impacted by the cultural industry of Canadian television. Canadian television will soon flourish as a result of the recent fragmentation of mass television consumption.
Theorist Toby Miller (2010, p.35) observed that “media studies has been dominated by three topics: infrastructure, audiences, and content”, these same three topics also determine the success of the television industry.

This is to say, that without either a political-economic landscape that allows the television industry to grow and flourish, an audience to view particular television programming, or high quality content that audience’s desire, television as a industry will be in imbalance and that will cause the business’ prosperity to decline and not fulfill its full potential. It is similar to Harold Innis’ (1949) theory of space/time bias. Innis believed that past civilizations either had a bias for knowledge over space or knowledge over time. He stated that both a bias for time and space was necessary for a civilization’s survival, but that when an empire's bias for both space and time were trust into imbalance, that this was when the civilization would collapse. With relevance to the Canadian television industry, like space and time, without its infrastructure, audience, and content in balance and in alignment, the industry will always be weakened and it will never become the strong cultural communication medium it could potentially be. Once there is a disproportion between television’s infrastructure, content, and audience, the industry can’t survive without the aid of federal governance (Tinic,

2010).
Furthermore, Canadian television’s minimal cultural impact can be related to Innis’ (1949) theory of empire: core versus periphery. As a former peripheral state, dependent on Great Britain, Canada once relied heavily on its mother country for cultural cues. Now post independence, the country is still reliant on other nations, except Canada now predominantly takes cultural influence from its neighboring state; especially as it pertains to media culture. The United States is easily a leader of “global generic” (Tinic, 2010, p.96) television culture, setting a content standard that is difficult to rival. It is straightforward to see why the television culture of the United States would be as influential to any country that it borders, but as Canada was once a dependent nation for such a lengthily period, it’s even simpler for Canadians to conform to another culture, as the country never had the chance to create its own unique television identity.
Likewise, Pierre Bourdieu’s (1984) theory of habitus can account for Canada’s distinct cultural relationship with the United States as well. Bourdieu explores how power is all around us and how communities, which reside in close proximity can affect one another. He (Bourdieu, 1984) claims that habitus conforms us to community ideals, and that can easily be seen through Canada’s cultural relationship with the United States. As Serra Tinic states in her essay “Walking a Tightrope: The Global Cultural Economy of Canadian Television” (2010, p.102), "it can be said that the story of U.S. television is also, largely, the story of the private Canadian broadcasters".
Principally, Canadian television’s negligible impact on Canadian culture can be explained by means of Canada’s small domestic audience (Tinic, 2010) that is available for the country’s original television content. Aside from an undersized national population, it is additionally due to Canada’s multicultural background. Accounting for Canada’s considerable size, it’s no surprise how diverse the nation is (Dib, Donaldson, & Turcotte, 2008). Therefore, fragmentation is consequently created because of diverse cultural needs, specifically as it pertains to television content. Canada was never structured for mass audiences to consume a single television program; one program cannot even approximately fulfill the needs of Canada’s diverse population. However, with the rise of SVOD, streaming video on demand, (Matrix, 2014) and a variety of consumption platforms, including not only television networks’ online presence, but platforms like Vimeo and YouTube as well, the terrain of the television industry is changing to suit fragmented niche audiences. Experienced with lower budgets and smaller audiences, Canadian television can now benefit from this recent decentralization by creating and distributing high quality content to its niche demographics that are waiting for specific Canadian experiences (Tinic, 2010), in original Canadian programmed material.
Changes in television’s infrastructure are leading the way for Canadian television to thrive. For example, the CRTC, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which claims to “ensure that Canada's broadcasting system provides content that meets the needs and interests of Canadians” (CRTC, 2015a), has recently undergone a positive shift towards consumer-friendly policies and conversing with Canadians about television nationwide (Christopher, 2014). The Commission (CRTC, 2015b) is safeguarding local video-on-demand services so that they can compete with other similar online players, while also “shifting its focus from the quantity of content made by Canadian broadcast to the amount of money invested in this content”; thereby leveling the playing field for Canadian television’s ability to create high-quality, high-budget content. Furthermore, community-based organizations like OpenMedia (Christopher, 2014) are advocating for the political intervention that Canadian television justly deserves, thereby seeing the political infrastructure of Canadian television to never be more ideal for the medium to start making its mark on the Canadian cultural identity.
Moreover, Canada’s economic infrastructure must also present ideal conditions in order for Canadian television to truly flourish. Looking to Toby Miller’s media studies (2010), the economic field of Canadian television was once very quota driven and reminiscent of Miller’s media studies I. Currently however, the Canadian television industry has seen a shift towards a media studies III approach (Miller, 2010). The business has allowed its audience to truly understand and analyze the regulations, public policy, and political-economic factors affecting it, thereby producing a more aware interested public, which desires its own domestic original content. Should the neo-liberalist view (Miller, 2010), that the market determines all be true, the market is now ready for Canadian television to expand, and truly thrive.
With regard to that new content ready audience, Canadians were not always as receptive to the importance and value of Canadian programming as is proven through Miller’s (2010) media studies I and II.

Canadian television viewers were formerly very passive consumers (Miller, 2010), whom, without government intervention and regulations, would see that Canadian television programming would move to a United States based market. "There has been over half a century of battling what is perceived as “an ideological misrecognition whereby Canadians mistake American television for what they really like while simultaneously neglecting the Canadian television that they ought to like” (Miller, 2010, p.39). Miller’s media studies II (2010) sees audiences gain more power and awareness, but it wasn’t until that audiences’ recent shift towards aligning with Miller’s media studies III category, that set a landscape that is ready to see Canadian television truly flourish. This can be seen through recent polling, done by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television, and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA),, the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), and the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) (2008), “that not only is it important to Canadians to have access to Canadian programming that distinguishes itself from foreign programs, (but) they also want to be able to choose programming that reflects national

identity”.
In terms of Canadian content, while the CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, (Tinic, 2010) is still often the only place for Canadian specific experiences, which explore the nation distinctly within the content itself, Canadian made television is on the rise. High quality, critically acclaimed (Matheson, 2015; Wilford, 2015) Canadian made content, such as the recent CBC series “Schitt’s Creek” and the CBC miniseries “The Book of Negroes” are demonstrating that Canadian television is able to compete with its American counterpart. Co-production in particular is a strong source for creating meaningful, successful, interesting Canadian produced content (Tinic, 2010). Critically acclaimed series such as “Orphan Black” (Houpt, 2014) illustrate the power of Canadian co-production. “Canada has (actually) become a world leader in the area of international joint ventures" (Tinic, 2010) proving that when given the resources Canadian creators need, Canadian television can produce content that is at a standard that fulfills the desired needs of Canadian audiences.
While Canadian television has yet to become an impactful cultural force that shapes the Canadian cultural identity, recent trends in television viewing are creating a landscape, wherein which, the Canadian television business can truly thrive for the first time in the industry’s history. The decentralization of mass television consumption is allowing the Canadian television industry to finally exploit its many niche demographics and communities nationwide, by creating high quality, but lower budget content that Canadian producers have learned to generate so well. Government regulations have begun to sincerely aid the Canadian television industry by funding the business more, and introducing less content quotas that diminish the quality of the television content that is produced. Audiences are more interested and engaged in Canadian programming than ever before, and the content created has never been closer to the level of its contemporaries from other nations. The Canadian television industry is prepared to see the business flourish and begin to shape its own aspect of the Canadian cultural identity.