My feelings on You Tube is that it's a great place to waste a few hours, but quite possibly the worst place to host anything you own. I think it's just matter of time before someone big enough to actually sue comes to town and the lights will go dark.
Assuming the rumours are true, what's Google's plan? I find it hard to believe that Google would buy and then allow the continued copyright infringement. While Google certainly has the bandwidth to pull off a You Tube, they're already using it for Google Video.
Perhaps the whole point is to eliminate the competition?