• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 24, 2011

McClatchy Co. is creating its own online group-buying service, which will operate separately from its partnership with Groupon. McClatchy said the Groupon partnership will continue, however, even as it introduces what appears to be a competing service.

The new McClatchy group-buying service could give the newspaper publisher up to 50% of revenues from deals sold and distributed via its newspaper Web sites, according to Ad Age, which cited individuals familiar with the situation.

That compares favorably to the 15% revenue cut it gets from the Groupon partnership.

The newspaper publisher first partnered with Groupon in July 2010; the plans to introduce its own group-buying service underline some of the threats Groupon faces, including the ease with which new competitors can duplicate its basic group-discount model. This is especially true if they already employ a large local sales force, with established relationships with retail and service providers, as McClatchy and other newspaper publishers do.

The McClatchy news comes close on the heels of a similar announcement from Hearst Corp., which plans to introduce group-buying platforms through its various local newspaper properties.

Other newspaper publishers are starting to use the group-discount model to sell their own products, sometimes in partnership with Groupon.

This week Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times announced it struck a deal with Groupon, making a 52-week subscription to the newspaper's Sunday edition available for just $10, for a $42 savings. The deal is limited to subscribers in the greater Los Angeles area.