Comedy Channel, HA! to Merge : Cable TV: The combined effort, which will go into effect early next year, will reach 15 million homes.

Two all-comedy cable services that have battled each other since April Fool’s Day said today they are ending their war of the chuckles and merging into a single cable network called Comedy TV.

Home Box Office’s The Comedy Channel, begun in November, 1989, and MTV Networks’ HA! The Comedy Network, on the air since April 1, will start their merged service early next year, company officials said.

Each is a 24-hour operation, and each has faced difficulties getting onto cable systems due to a shortage of available channels.

They made it official less than than a month after two proposed rival cable services devoted to law--In Court and American Courtroom Network--also said they would merge into one service called American Courtroom Network.

Time Warner Inc., which had hoped to launch one of the all-law networks, owns HBO.

The Comedy Channel is seen in 8.5 million homes. HA!, whose parent company is owned by Viacom International Inc., is in 6.5 million homes. Their union will give the new service 15 million homes, they said.

All-sports ESPN serves the most cable homes, 55.9 million, followed by Turner’s Cable News Network, which serves 54.4 million.

The advertiser-supported Comedy TV Network that will result from HA! and The Comedy Channel will be a 50-50 venture, with a programming lineup drawn from each network, the two companies said.

Each network will continue its respective operations until the new service begins “in early 1991,” HBO said.

The president of the new network will be recruited from outside the two companies, and the new network will be staffed by HA! and The Comedy Channel employees.

HBO Chairman Michael Fuchs, in a statement, said the merged comedy service “is not only a very positive move for both companies, but should have a salutary effect on the cable industry as a whole.”

About 12 new cable services plan start-ups in coming months, according to Erica Gruen, a cable analyst at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising.