Could the stars be aligning for a Google-N.Y. Times merger? Dealscape — This sort of thing actually makes sense.

As the New York Times Co. is negotiating with lenders over its debt, speculation has been floating around the blogosphere, pushing the premise that Google Inc. should acquire the beleaguered Gray Lady. The thesis or, rumor, as some would put it has been around since the beginning of the year, with SpliceToday on Thursday reintroducing the idea of the unorthodox union of the stalwart of old media with the scion of new media.

But the possibility of this dream hookup is just fantasy because the owners of the Times — the Sulzberger family — for now, seem emboldened to hold on to the company for as long as it can. The Sulzbergers, however, are living on borrowed time as the family is facing pressure on all fronts to save the company, which is hemorrhaging as the slow economy has decimated its advertising and subscription revenue. Already, the media company took the extreme move of borrowing $250 million from their newly built headquarters pictured, but that seems to be a temporary band-aid on what very well could be a mortal wound.