u/ThePokeMaster100

I want to imagine what would happen if streaming never occurred or became the dominant way of viewing content, but we're in the modern era today.

I mean in the sense that TV with timeslots was still the popular way to watch things. No Netflix, no Crunchyroll, stuff like that, but anime was still popular like today to discuss. But the internet did not had the bandwidth. Would any of the networks get behind anime in the same way streaming does now?

Frieren, JJK, Demon Slayer on the Big 4 networks(ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX)?

Or would anime remain in the same way as Toonami was in the 2000s? Would anime take over Cartoon Network? Adult Swim?

Do dedicated anime channels still exist? Or be relegated to Showtime/HBO premium cable?

I'm probably answering my own hypothetical question; it would probably not become the dominant medium for American households, or even the ones we're talking about currently. Hell the medium would probably stay as a smaller niche than today due to broadcasting standards and the era of unnecessary edits and censorship, or lack of viewership due to channel availability/interest.

But imagine if the interest was enough that it couldn't really fail. Pretty interesting to think about if the Internet couldn't do videos at all, but anime still gathered enough interest to not be ignored, thanks to forums and home video. Of course, broadcast standards allowed anime uncensored.

So if anime were on TV, how much of a reach?

• Big 4 networks (primetime block)?
• Cable (Cartoon Network, HBO, Showtime, etc.)
• Dedicated anime channels?
• On demand

I know my question was dumb but it was a random thought I had if there was no streaming, would I were a network exec, bring today's anime to television. My flaw is that assuming if there was enough interest like currently in our world, just without the streaming and that all the pipelines were there to make it possible.