To cater to the increasingly digital needs of broadcast outlets it partners with, media research firm Frank N. Magid has launched a new division to help stations create alternative media content, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The Magid Media Labs unit will try to make broadcasters' websites easier to use as a source for local news and other information. Right now, more people turn to the website of a local newspaper than to that of a local TV station, and the new division will seek to turn that around.

One Magid executive admits that it's not other TV stations that broadcasters are competing against; rather, it's Yahoo and other news aggregators, both in terms of readers and advertising. That means a different approach when attempting to make the site for a station competitive locally.