Belo Corp., the television giant which operates KING TV in Seattle and 19 other stations across the country, is getting serious about the threat from Groupon and Living Social. The Dallas-based media company, with annual revenue of $590 million, today unveiled a new daily deal site called Yollar.com which promises spectacular deals and discounts at pizza shops, spas and other local merchants.

The technology behind the new site is being provided by Tippr, the Seattle startup which just 10 days ago launched its new white-label PoweredByTippr service. At this point, Yollar is available in Belo's markets of Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis, San Antonio and New Orleans. Portland, Charlotte, Hampton/Norfolk and Boise will come online later this month, with the remaining markets (including Seattle) set to launch by January.

"In such a highly competitive space, Yollar.com brings a best in class group buying solution to our advertisers along with superior customer service from our local sales forces," said Joe Weir, Belo's general manager/Interactive, in a press release. "We can deliver a powerful partnership with our trusted local television stations, Web sites, mobile platforms and social media outlets."

The keyword in that statement is competitive. Groupon's rise to power in the daily deal space has led to dozens of new competitors, including DealPop from Seattle-based Whitepages. And now with Tippr turning over its technology to established media companies -- like newspapers and TV stations -- the competition could get even more intense.

With their massive reach and established Web sites, media companies do have an advantage in trying to convert more passive viewers or readers into daily deal shoppers. However, media companies have not had the raw development power or resources to devote to new online offerings like the one being unveiled by Belo. Partnering with a third-party technology vendor allows them to get into the game.

In that regard, the partnership is similar to the hyperlocal blogging platform that Fisher Communications -- operator of KOMO in Seattle -- launched in conjunction with Bellevue startup Datasphere.

Martin Tobias, CEO of Tippr, said that media companies need to make the transition to the daily deal space.

“For publishers, the pressure to enter the group buying market and grab a piece of the massive revenues being generated by this market is overwhelming,” he said. “The problem is that most solutions out there require publishers to turn over their customers, their brand, and their long-term viability in this space to the partner. That doesn’t sound like much of a partnership.”

What will be interesting to watch is how Tippr manages its own daily deal site now that it is partnering with local media companies. After all, some media companies may not like the idea of competing with their technology vendor.

UPDATE: I asked a Tippr spokesman about that potential dilemma, and here's what he had to say.

"Where Belo and Tippr are in the same markets, there really won’t be competition. As an example, if KING 5 wanted to run a deal on Yollar for Emerald City Smoothie, they could leverage the Tippr.com Seattle site to get traffic for that deal. Anyone who clicked to order that deal would be re-directed to the Yollar/Belo site for King 5. So it’s actually an opportunity for Belo to increase its reach. It is also increased visibility for the merchant."