When will the Absentia network announcement be made?

We’ve spent much of the past month discussing whether or not Absentia would find itself an official network home, and now, it has! Recently, the show confirmed on its official Twitter account that it has found a network/streaming partner to broadcast it in America, and noted to “stay tuned for announcements on where to watch” in the near future.

Given that we’ve already speculated aplenty as to possible locations, we want to focus less on the where in this article and more on the when. When could we learn the identity of the show’s U.S. broadcaster? It could be sooner than you’d think.

As of right now, networks across broadcast and cable are in the process of making big announcements while at the TCA Summer Press Tour. If there was a golden opportunity for someone to pick up the show and unveil it, this would be it since they could bring some select cast members out to speak about it with reporters. Also, the head of the network/streaming provider could further explain why they decided to pick the show up and what they want to do with it next.

If Absentia’s new home is announced during the press tour, the one bit of bad news is that it’s probably not coming to TNT, which is the network that we’ve had at the top of our board for the past several weeks. They’ve already done their presentation, and it would be fairly unprecedented for them to come back and announce it later during the same event. (Note that this doesn’t rule them out as a network home per se; it just does through the lens of someone announcing it during the TCA tour.) Other networks to have already presented at TCA include Lifetime, TBS, HBO, and Starz. All of the major broadcast networks still remain — we recently made a case for NBC to air Absentia after Blindspot — and the same goes for FX and many other cable networks.

We should note that Netflix and Amazon are not going to be presenting at the TCA Summer Press Tour this year, though we do consider the two of them longshots to air the show in the first place. They prefer to stream all of their episodes at once, while Absentia is going to be rolling out on a weekly basis in the remainder of the world. We tend to use the word “network” to include a streaming provider, so if we say that, don’t assume that we’re ruling anyone out in general terms. There are still a wide array of possibilities out there.

Basically, watch this space often between now and August 9 when FX closes out the event. There are opportunities aplenty for an announcement to be made somewhere in there.

Do you think that the TCA Press Tour is the ideal time in which to see an Absentia network reveal, and who is at the top of your leaderboard now? Be sure to share below! (Photo: Sony.)