MISINFORMED muppetry is the best way to describe much of the domestic commentary on the Google/YouTube deal. Most non-Publius pundits prognosticate about YouTube's previously profitless performance.

They know who they are, and that they hadn't even heard of YouTube before the deal.

Prophecies about Web 2.0 being Bubble 2.0 generally fail even to nod at the fundamental shifts in consumer behaviour and media response that are driving Web 2.0 . . . and not the other way around.

Looking for more evidence? NBC Universal will shed hundreds of jobs and invest $150m in building its online presence, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. About $400m of its revenues were generated online last year, including paid-for downloads of programming via iTunes;

the figure is expected to rise to $1bn in 2009.

GoogTube isn't a fad, folks. It's the future of television. And the geoblocking that will keep RTE in business will last only as long as it takes Eircom's Pierre Danon . . .

who last week got serious about it . . . and Magnet to get real bandwidth to Irish homes. Once NBC and its Hollywood peers figure out they can get real worldwide revenue from downloads, say goodbye to traditional distribution agreements and the old economics of TV. If Publius worked at an ad agency, we'd be figuring out what the new economics look like. Quickly.

LYONS TEA GETS AVIAN FLU MCCONNELLS executives can breathe a little easier this weekend, after the recently troubled agency last week won an estimated 1m in creative and media business for Unilever brand Lyons Tea, following a competitive pitch.

DDFH&B had the Lyons account since 2003, featuring the 'Birds' campaign (pictured), with Wallace & Grommet-style claymation feathered types.

Sources tell Publius the brief from Unilever wanted to refocus the campaign on the presumptive health benefits of tea. Certainly the Irishness of the birds and their GAA jersey tie-in might not sit well with those who disapproved of the recent announcement from Unilever that the Inchicore factory, where Lyons had been blended and packed since 1963, was to be closed with the loss of 125 jobs.

LATE LATE GETS A LATE SPONSOR PUBLIUS understands that Halifax, the new brand of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), has signed up to sponsor The Late Late Show on RTE One, which has been on air for nearly two months sans sponsor.

Five-year sponsor Renault ended its relationship with RTE at the conclusion of the previous series earlier this year.

RTE was offering the Late Late sponsorship for 1.3m, thought to be perhaps a bit pricy to get to the programme's audience. But the deal seems like a good match for Halifax. As a brand-building platform, the Late Late is a proven winner.

It built Renault's awareness in this market so successfully that one in three people knew, unprompted, that the car maker was the show's sponsor.

Less clear is whether it will translate for Halifax executives in their own personal profile. Personally, we'd exchange part of the licence fee in order to ensure that there are no such Bill Cullenesque appearances on the programme and that there is a clause forbidding any Halifax executive from using the Late Late to launch a vomitsome memoir.

TERM OF THE WEEK:

COUNTER-GOOGLING STUART FOGARTY of AFA O'Meara gave a riveting performance at the Smile hospitality marketing conference earlier this month, in which he wowed delegates at the Quadrigasponsored event with concepts they should have been young enough to have come across themselves.

First up was 'CounterGoogling', the phenomenon wherein you might arrive at a hotel and a thoughtful concierge might offer you some activities tailored for your interests without you ever telling them a thing.

This magic is increasingly possible due to our proclivity to list those interests on MySpace, blogs or other websites.

Big service or Big Brother? As long as the interests you share with your wife are the same ones you share with your girlfriend, there's no problem.

DAYLIGHT AT THE SHELBOURNE HOTEL ATthe same Smile conference, the Shelbourne Hotel's marketing director, Ann-Marie Whelan, revealed some details of the refurbishment of the hotel, and why its reopening has been delayed to February 2007.

For one thing, apparently they couldn't touch 45% of the ceilings and 40% of the floors due to preservation orders. Which makes it hard to bring up to date a hotel in which you couldn't run a shower on the top floor at the same time you ran one on the second floor.

Other sneaky details: the 27 restaurant is to be nixed and combined with the old Shelbourne Bar into one single L-shaped cocktail emporium . . . so more space for the 2007 Christmas drink. Also, all rooms bar one (and it's not the Horseshoe Bar) will have natural light, which should reveal the terrible beauty of the denizens of the Horseshoe. Apparently guests will also be able to cut their own soap. Yes, you read that right.

Finally, while some suites will be named after personalities with an association with the hotel, many will be left for future guests who make their mark on the establishment. The Dunphy Suite? Saints preserve us.

Rates for the opening week or two are expected to be priced in the "mid-200s" range, which is a pretty good argument for making a bid for a Publius suite. We're taking donations to finance our stay at the address below.

TIPS, BRIBES & ABUSE all welcome at rdelevan@tribune. ie