Understanding the willingness to pay for public service media: Testing the role of socio-political trust and partisan selective exposure

The ability for public service media (PSM) to fulfil its roles is based upon the public's willingness to financially support it. This study investigates the determinants of the willingness to pay (WTP) for PSM by the public in the Czech Republic, contributing to existing literature by exploring the socio-psychological antecedents and focusing on the Central and Eastern European region, both of which have not been studied before. The results indicate that PSM consumption, expenditure on commercial media, and socio-political trust positively affect WTP. In addition, selective partisan exposure positively moderates the relationship between expenditure on commercial media and WTP for PSM.