Talks to Merge TV Comedy Networks Resume : Broadcasting: The problems in attracting subscribers have led Time Warner and Viacom back to the negotiating table.

The talks between Viacom Inc. and Time Warner Inc. regarding a merger of their new cable television comedy networks appear to be on once again, but officials close to the negotiations said there are still several obstacles to an agreement.

Both Viacom and Time Warner are being forced back to the bargaining table because their respective comedy channels have had a difficult time attracting subscribers to the fledgling program services. Cable operators generally agree that there is a market for an all-comedy cable channel, just as there are all-sports and all-news channels, although second channels offering a similar format behind an already established channel have mostly failed.

So far, neither Viacom’s Ha! nor its direct competitor, the Comedy Channel, have emerged a leader, and analysts see a long, resource-draining fight between the two channels as they try to establish themselves.

Viacom launched Ha! on April 1 with only 4 million subscribers, although the company says it expects to add another 1 million subscribers by next month and have 6 million by the end of the year.

Time Warner, through its HBO subsidiary, launched the Comedy Channel in November with a larger base of 4.2 million subscribers, although it has not grown appreciably beyond the 6 million subscribers it had at the end of 1989. HBO, however, says it has “commitments” from cable operators that would increase the Comedy Channel’s subscriber base to 15 million over the next couple of years, depending on how fast cable systems are able to increase channel capacity.

“We have no delusions about the reality of the marketplace,” said Ha! president Ed Bennett. “But we are fully prepared to stick with it.”

Bennett says room for new cable channels will open as cable systems increase their channel capacity to 54 channels over the next five years and systems begin dropping “imported” distant signals because of copyright problems and ailing home-shopping channels.

The battle between the two services has turned nasty. Personal insults have been exchanged on top of litigation. Viacom last year filed a $2.5-billion antitrust suit against HBO, charging it with monopolizing the cable television business.

Last week, Time Warner threatened to sue a group of cable system operators who were in discussions about making an equity investment in Ha! in exchange for adding the program service to their systems. Time Warner lawyers contended that those equity deals would have shut out the Comedy Channel on systems totaling between 18 million to 20 million subscribers, even though the pact did not call for exclusive carriage of Ha! The cable operators were sufficiently scared that the equity discussions have now collapsed.

Sources say talks between Viacom and Time Warner over merging their comedy cable networks have been stymied on several important matters, including who would manage the combined company, what their respective interests would be and whether to allow cable operators to invest in the company. Cable operators, which provide the pipeline into the viewer’s home, typically invest in the programming services they carry.

The limited number of channels available on cable systems around the country is a major reason that Viacom and Time Warner are finding it difficult to launch a new cable network.

Cable systems on average carry 35 channels, but there are 104 different cable networks competing for those limited openings. In addition, most cable franchise agreements call for the cable system to set aside about one-third of those channels for local broadcast stations, further reducing the available slots for new cable networks.

“Clearly cable operators have limited shelf space,” said Richard J. MacDonald, a partner in the New York media investment firm of MacDonald Grippo Reilly Inc. “The best thing for them would be to combine their efforts.”

The Comedy Channel and Ha! are taking a different approach to programming their respective channels, although both feature stand-up comics. The Comedy Channel is relying heavily on the use of short comedy features, or “clips,” similar in format to music videos. Ha! is scheduling more traditional programming, such as old reruns of “The Lucy Show” and “Saturday Night Live.” The costs are steep: HBO will spend about $40 million during its first year--some believe the cost will actually balloon to more than $50 million-- and Viacom officials have said Ha! will spend between $85 million to $125 million over the next four years.