ITV is planning to launch a broadband television site at the end of March, although it believes that viewers will not be willing to pay to watch much television online.

The commercial broadcaster is spending about £20 million on the project. It will transmit ITV1 live and make available the last 30 days of television to watch online.

ITV has been criticised for being slow to develop its internet presence compared, in particular, with the BBC, but Annalies van den Belt, the new managing director of broadband at ITV, said that the timing was appropriate.

“Until now ITV has just been exploring new media by providing content for mobile phones,” Ms van den Belt, who was director of new media at The Daily Telegraph, said. “Now it is coming up with a product that sits at the heart of the business and should become part of the commissioning process.”

Traffic data indicates how far ITV has to go to improve. BBC sites attracted 16.4 million viewers during November, the most recent month for which figures are available, compared with 4.3 million for ITV-owned sites, a figure that includes traffic for the ITV property Friends Reunited. Last month Channel 4 became the first broadcaster to start showing its entire output online, and the BBC is expected to launch its iPlayer formally in the coming months.

The BBC will spend more than three times as much as ITV — the public broadcaster’s online budget last year was £72 million.

The revamped ITV.com is expected to emphasise entertainment programmes, such as Coronation Street and The X Factor, rather than news or children’s material. Most of the content will be available free, and it will feature commercial breaks and advertisements.

ITV believes that viewers are reluctant to pay to keep most programmes, and its content will be available on a streamed basis, although there will be some exceptions, principally in sport. ITV already broadcasts a handful of Champions League football matches online, charging £1.99 a match.

Channel 4, in contrast, is hoping that a “mixed economy” of paid-for and free programming will emerge, providing a new revenue stream to offset weak television advertising revenues, which are under pressure as advertisers concentrate additional spending on new media.

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