I f it’s true that the owners of WTXX (Channel 20) are about to buy WTIC (Channel 61), it will be the Hartford-New Haven television market’s equivalent of the end of the Cold War.

Broadcasting magazine, a national trade publication, reported this week that Renaissance Communications Corp., parent company of Channel 20, is “near an agreement” with Chase Communications to buy its four Fox affiliates, one of which is Channel 61.

Michael Finkelstein, president and chief executive officer of Rennaisance, which owns three television stations besides Channel 20, could not be reached for comment on the story.

And Arnold Chase, co-chairman of Chase Communications, wouldn’t confirm or deny that his company was in negotiations with Renaissance, saying only, “We have not reached an agreement with anyone.”

Many industry insiders, nevertheless, find the what-if scenario fascinating, though based on past relations between the two stations and the complexities of executing such a deal, it may all turn out to be closer to fantasy than reality.

Speculation has it that Renaissance would shut down Channel 20 after buying Channel 61 and combine the two stations’ resources, keeping the Fox affiliation.

“I think it redefines irony,” says Mike Watt, a man who spent most of the ’80s working as promotions manager at WTXX and then WTIC.

Watt, now senior vice president of membership and promotion for Connecticut Public Broadcasting, was a key player at both stations at critical junctures in their histories.

Describing the often bitter competition between the two stations over the years involving everything from programming and ratings to the Fox affiliation, Watt says, “It was never dishonest or illegal, but it was as bracing as it gets.”

When Waterbury-based Channel 20 signed on in April 1982, Hartford-New Haven was the largest television market in the country without an independent station (i.e., non-network affiliated). It was a ground-floor opportunity for Channel 20’s owners, who, recalls Watt, made the most of it, constructing a classic

independent built on movies, kids’ shows and sitcom reruns.

Then along came Arnold Chase, son of Hartford real-estate magnate David Chase. The younger Chase had grown up with visions of running his own television station in Hartford, and — with the help of his family’s considerable fortune — he made that dream come true in September 1984 when Channel 61 became the market’s second independent.

Written off early on by many observers as a rich kid playing with a multimillion-dollar toy, Chase, at least at the start, often seemed to prove his detractors right.

“When he signed on,” says Watt, “he found that it wasn’t as easy as he might have hoped to make money. The advertising revenues were not there, and the ratings were not there for two [independent] stations.”

Two other independents — WHCT (Channel 18) in Hartford and WTWS (Channel 26) in New London — went on the air in 1985 and 1986, respectively, but spent more time trying to pay their bills than competing. Channel 18, hampered from the start by daunting legal battles, went belly-up in April 1991. Channel 26 is still alive but barely kicking. As a result Channel 61 and Channel 20, Chase and Finkelstein, found themselves going head to head most often with one another.

One of the biggest problems faced by Channel 61 early on, for example, was what they had to show viewers besides the then-most-powerful television signal in the country. Because Channel 20 had been on the air two years earlier and had already purchased rights to the best movie and syndicated programming packages available, the Channel 61 lineup did little to attract viewers or ratings.

So at first opportunity, Chase began to outbid his competitors — sometimes merely to keep programs on his shelf and off other stations’ — driving up prices in the market and creating resentment, particularly at Channel 20.

“Certainly, what Arnold paid for product was legendary,” says Watt.

Finkelstein “resented the idea that he couldn’t afford to continue to lose money at the same velocity that Arnold could, which was just breathtaking,” Watt says.

Still, it took a lot more than money to make Channel 61 work. There were several key deals and programming choices made by Chase along the way — a Celtics sports contract wrestled from Channel 20, WTXX, Geraldo Rivera’s record-setting peek into Al Capone’s vaults, bold and sometimes controversial legal maneuvers — that kept the station moving forward.

But the real coup undoubtedly came in 1986 when WTIC outlobbied WTXX and became the market’s Fox affiliate — an event that by the end of 1988 secured the station’s place as the top-rated independent in the market.

Then, in 1989, Chase fulfilled another dream, mounting a 10 p.m. nightly newscast that continues to top its own ratings records and gain credibility among viewers and competitors. (Channel 61 Vice President and General Manager Robert Gluck says WTIC’s newscast is the fifth highest rated among the nation’s 40-plus Fox affiliates with news.)

Now, with the future brighter than ever for Channel 61, it’s up for sale, part of a plan announced last year by Chase Enterprises to sell some or all of the Chase Communications broadcast

properties to raise money for the company’s ventures in Eastern Europe, such as cable television.

And suddenly, an impossible union seems possible, and the long-held notion that the Hartford-New Haven market isn’t big enough for all the local stations on the air seems to be coming true. (Station executives say the local media pie is about $116 million annually — down from about $138 million at the end of the ’80s.)

“Certainly this is a very difficult environment,” says Channel 20 Vice President and General Manager Rod Bacon, who deferred all comments about the station’s future to Finkelstein but maintained “Renaissance is committed to this station.”

Characterizing Channel 20 as a “strong No. 5 out of five television stations” (not counting Channel 26), Bacon says that in the current environment, “We set our own standards.” He points to the station’s still-strong movie block, its commitment to public affairs, its Disney Afternoon kid franchise and improvements in its ratings and share of revenues as signs of strength.

But when asked whether this market may not have at least one television station too many for the economy, he says, “That’s a good question. I don’t know the answer to it. I think it’s possible.”

If the Chase-Renaissance deal does go through, Watt says, “The irony will be that, in a way, it can be read as if Mike won because he gets to keep all the marbles … but he had to snuff Channel 20 to do it.”