But what does this mean for anime?

Let's look at the track record for SAILOR MOON. Nationally, SAILOR MOON has been getting a 1.0 rating. Because advertising time is priced by how much viewership a show brings in, a rating that low usually spells death for the show because the station can't sell advertising time at a rate high enough to support the cost of licensing (i.e. "buying") the show. Unfortunately, SAILOR MOON will not return to broadcast television next year because it can't bring in higher ratings. (Fortunately, though, TBS has picked it up for the '96 fall season!) What happened?! One of the most popular anime ever in the world winds up dead last in America?! This can't make any sense!
This is what leads us to the next topic of clearances.
When I say, "SAILOR MOON has a clearance of 80%", what I mean is: SAILOR MOON can be seen in 80% of the nation. That means if you're a rabid SAILOR MOON fan but you live in that 20% of America which doesn't get SAILOR MOON, then you just plain won't see it. So right off the bat, Sailor Moon is hurt because 1/5 of America can't even accidentally stumble onto it. The solution is simple, right? Just get the show cleared throughout America! How does a show get cleared, you may ask? Well, you have asked a mouthful!
Now we have to talk about toy companies and the topic of time slots.
Obviously, some time slots are better than other time slots. For example, 3:00 AM is a horrible time slot unless you're selling Melatonin. For a children's show, 7:00 AM is one of the best time slots. (You shouldn't need a Ph.D. to understand the difference between 7:00 AM and 3:00 AM especially if little kids understand it without even knowing there's a difference!) If you watch SAILOR MOON currently, you know that in the 80% of America where you can get it, its usually on at 5:00 AM or 2:30 PM or 10:00 AM. How is anybody supposed to see SAILOR MOON? Especially kids who are either asleep or in school? (Or in the case of anime fans, asleep or at work or asleep at work.) The answer to SAILOR MOON's" woes should be simple, right? Just get it 100% cleared and put it in a great time slot at 7:00 AM. Well, that would solve SAILOR MOON's ratings performance, so why hasn't that been done? The reason has its roots in the law of supply and demand.
If you stop and think about all the good time slots for children's programming, you'll find that there really aren't a lot of good time slots available. 6:30 - 8:00 weekday mornings and 3:00 - 6:00 weekday afternoons plus Saturday morning. Everyone with a children's show wants those time slots and right now, there are more shows than there are time slots. So how does a station decide which shows get the best time slots? Unfortunately, it all comes down to money and politics at this point. The politics come in when the station is affiliated with a network (e.g. FOX). Of course, if the network tells its affiliates, "You will show this cartoon because its a network cartoon!" Guess what? It gets shown. So after all the arm twisting is over, the left over time slots go up on the auction block to the highest bidder.

"Wait a minute, David! Do you mean to say that people have to pay the stations to show a cartoon? I thought television works the other way around where stations buy the show and they sell air time to advertisers to make their money."
Well, that's how its supposed to work, and it certainly works like that in prime time, but remember, we're working at the bottom of the food chain so the rules are a bit different. Here's how they do it:

Lots of shows, say POWER RANGERS, have a huge toy company, (e.g. Bandai), behind them with tons and tons of "influence" (i.e. money). If the toy company sponsoring the show really believes in it, a dialogue between the toy company and the TV station will go something like this:

TV Station:		OK, so you want me to buy your show and put it on at 7:30 AM. How well do you think this POWER RANGERS is going to do in the ratings? Frankly, I think your show is pretty stupid if you ask me...I'm thinking of putting on Bananas in Pajamas instead, now they look funny!
Toy company:		We know it'll be a hit! We've got toys up to the ceiling ready to be dumped...er, sold in the American market by Christmas.
TV Station:		Hey, I've got reruns of RESCUE 911 on at that time right now, and its pulling in 2.2's and 2.3's.
Toy company:		Tell you what...you license this show put it on at 7:30 AM and if it doesn't pull in at least a 2.2, we'll cover the difference in your lost advertising money. If you don't like how it does this season, you can go back to reruns of 911 next season. How's that for a deal?
TV Station:		OK. I'm a good guy, I'll take a chance on your show. (As long as the money's all the same, heh, heh, heh...)