Google and YouTube SHOULD be on everyone's minds and SPEED (Akamai) wins all the time.

This could be one hell of a week in MEDIA.

If Google is really chasing YouTube (they should), rest assured that this weekend saw huge firings at News Corp, all-night meetings with bankers and all kinds of backstabbings (always a silver lining :) )

If there is a deal and it isn’t firm, the price should be bid well north of $2 billion. I read nothing new and of interest on the subject until tonight.Hedge fund Old Timer and wily veteran Jeff Matthews, who is known for his skeptical look at everything Wall Street, has a great post on the subject. Read it. My favorite part:

The issue I take is this: YouTube is no mere “front door for web visits” by teenagers surfing the web.

Rather, YouTube is the Next TV.

Before you spit out your coffee, or Jamba Juice, or chai tea, or soy latte at that grand statement, consider for a moment what is happening here.

People watch more than one hundred million videos on YouTube every day. Since YouTube accounted for just under half of all visits to U.S. online video sites in September, more than two hundred million videos are viewed every day on U.S. video sites, including YouTube, MySpace, Google and others.

Nobody writes better or funnier on Wall Street than Jeff.

PS – Is it any wonder that AKAMAI keeps climbing. Speed Wins in all scenarios these days!

Disclosure – Long Akamai. Should be long Google (no intentions here). Wish I was long YouTube :) .