Willingness to Pay for the Subscription Fee of Public Broadcasting System

Inho Park,Hyun Soon Park

doi:10.4236/ajc.2014.21001

Abstract

The study aims at developing communication strategies for the public broadcasting system according to WTP (Willingness to Pay) for the subscription fee and the audience’s perception of the public broadcasting system as a public good. A quasi-experiment was conducted for audiences who have previously watched public broadcasting channels. According to the results, those respondents who think of public broadcasting as a public good and who think that public broadcasting performs its public role well have high intention to pay the subscription fee. When respondents feel a loss when they pay the subscription fee, the willingness to pay the fee goes down.

Highlights

The present study focuses on how the public broadcasting system can resolve conflicts with its audience regarding subscription fee payment
The study aims at developing communication strategies for the public broadcasting system for its audiences according to WTP (Willingness to Pay) the subscription fee and audiences’ perceptions about the public broadcasting system as a public good
Hypothesis 1 assumed that WTP for the subscription fee would differ between respondents who saw Korean Public Broadcasting System (KBS) as a public good and those who did not

Summary

Introduction

The present study focuses on how the public broadcasting system can resolve conflicts with its audience regarding subscription fee payment. The study aims at developing communication strategies for the public broadcasting system for its audiences according to WTP (Willingness to Pay) the subscription fee and audiences’ perceptions about the public broadcasting system as a public good. The subscription fee is an important source of income that enables public broadcasting systems to better pursue public interests. The subscription fee is often taken for granted as a mandatory payment, like a tax. The stakeholders of public broadcasting maintain that the subscription fee should be required and increased, the majority of the public does not want to pay it.

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Results

Conclusion