By JIM BENSON

Twentieth TV's "A Current Affair" has accused Paramount's rival tabloid entry "Hard Copy" of intercepting the "Current Affair" station satellite feed Monday and stealing nearly two minutes of exclusive footage for its own broadcast.

"Hard Copy" removed the "ACA" logo from the feed, the program's officials charge, and scooped "Affair" with the allegedly pilfered video in New York, a virtually unheard-of practice in the television industry.

A "Hard Copy" spokeswoman yesterday defended the show's actions, saying, "We are confident that everything was handled consistent with industry practice and standards."

She declined to comment on specific aspects of the case.

The material in question involves footage obtained by "Affair" reported Steve Dunleavy of Amy Fisher, the prime suspect in a sensational New York attempted-murder case.

Defense attorneys have portrayed Fisher, a 17-year-old high school student accused of shooting her lover's wife in the head, as an innocent young woman who is incapable of such a crime.

The "Affair" video threw a wrench into the defense argument by showing Fisher engaged with an escort service customer.

Attorneys for Twentieth TV are preparing to go to court within a few days to seek a

permanent injunction barring further use of the material by Paramount, as well as damages.

In addition, the Fox syndie unit is looking to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.

Soon after having learned of the broadcast, Twentieth TV chairwoman Lucie Salhany informed Par that Twentieth would initiate a suit. Ironically, Salhany launched "Hard Copy" during her tenure as prexy of Par's syndie wing and took a number of the studio's exex with her when she left.

In a memo to his staff yesterday, "Affair" exec producer John Terezanio asserted that "Hard Copy" had stolen the video, which aired in New York and other access markets, including Los Angeles. The video did not appear in markets showing "Hard Copy" in early fringe: they received an earlier feed.

"They have admitted recording our 4 p.m. feed and then blowing up the video to remove our logo," he said. "They then redid their show for their later time periods."

The Terezanio memo quoted Par attorneys as saying the video had been taken on the basis of a legal principle called "fair use," which entitles other parties to minimal use of broadcast material, but he called that "an asinine argument."

Terezanio maintained that "Hard Copy" had not only aired a substantial portion of the tape, but had taken the video directly from the satellite feed in apparent violation of FCC rules.

Additionally, the exec producer insisted that the "premeditated" removal of the logo constituted both copyright violation and an abuse of the "fair use" principle.

In an interview, Terezanio said that to obtain the tape, the Par show "would have had to point a satellite dish to the sky and pull it down."

"ACA" provided a 25-second recording of the video to all local New York stations, but only the "Affair" feed contained the lengthier version.

A former network new exec, Terezanio said he had occasionally seen broadcast news orgs mistakenly grab the wrong feed off the satellite "because it all looked the same and they got mixed up ... but nothing like this."

Terezanio speculated that "Hard Copy's" action had been motivated by its promo campaign over the weekend claiming that the show had Fisher's "untold story."

New York's tabloid newspapers Monday morning carried stories noting the revelations in the "Affair" report that was scheduled to air that night.