UC Santa Barbara

This study examines who speaks to cultural value in the world market for television, what criteria are invoked for product appraisal, and how aesthetic criteria are deployed to explore the ways in which cultural arbiters and critical appraisal contribute to transnational culture worlds. Findings reveal that product appraisals consist of rational, concrete criteria that signal profitability alongside aesthetic criteria that reflect dimensions of entertainment. In the absence of professional critics, the public discourse of industry boundary spanners proved crucial to marketplace gatekeeping and the organization of global television's market environment. © 2011 SAGE Publications.