Turner Networks and satellite provider Dish Network are currently in a dispute over a new distribution agreement for several networks including CNN, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies among others. The two companies could not agree on an extension and this lead to Dish Network dropping Cartoon Network and in turn Adult Swim from their service. This has eliminated roughly 1/7th to 1/6th of the total households that Adult Swim was available to.
Every show on Adult Swim has been affected by this to some degree but there’s no need to hit the panic button. While it has been disappointing to see the final premieres of Attack on Titan, Bleach and Hellsing not reach the heights they could before, Toonami will be perfectly fine. Jason DeMarco recently stated during his Reddit AMA that Turner will not be penalizing Toonami for the excepted drop. All of Adult Swim is affected by this and so far it looks like Toonami’s loyal audience and target demographic did not make up the majority of Dish viewers. Hopefully the dispute will not last much longer but both sides are showing no signs of budging.
Those of you who have Dish Network and are missing Toonami because of that, you have our condolences.
All you need to take away from this is simply this: there’s no point in flipping out about the ratings. Toonami’s not going anywhere.