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Vincent Dureau was something of a hit when he attended the Cable Europe Congress. Dureau, you see, is Google’s head of TV technology, and he assured cable TV companies that they will not be replaced by Web TV.

Dureau was apparently turning heads at the Congress even before making that statement – Reuters reported that he “was welcomed with a mix of fear and awe by the cable TV companies, which are concerned that Web companies will try to steal their lucrative TV business.”

Then the Googler announced what was “the best news of the day,” according to one cable chief executive.

“The web infrastructure, and even Google’s (infrastructure) doesn’t scale,” said Dureau. “It’s not going to offer the quality of service that consumers expect.”

A declaration from Google that it will not compete with you is enough to make any company – or any industry – sigh with relief. And from there, things only got better.

“Google . . . offered to work together with cable operators to combine its technology for searching for video and TV footage and its tailored advertising with the cable networks’ high-quality delivery of shows,” according to Reuters.

But while cable execs were busy celebrating, Web TV advocates were left to deal with a serious blow. Google-owned YouTube was one of their brightest hopes, and Dureau’s words effectively closed that avenue.

There are, of course, other contenders, but as Douglas A. McIntyre writes, “It is . . . unclear whether Google’s warnings will impact the TV-over-IP services being launched by Verizon and AT&T in the hope that they can keep pace with cable companies in terms of product offerings.”

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