I only just noticed it today, but yesterday Viz announced it had licensed Death Note, and all fansub groups following it have since dropped the project. This would come as terribly disappointing news, as we were only on episode 12 of 37 but Viz has decided to release them over the internet as download-to-own or download-to-rent “soon after they air in Japan.”
Now, I don’t know what type of ’soon’ they’re talking about, but I doubt it will be the same ’soon’ that fansub groups release episodes ’soon after the original airs.’ Even if they can release it in a similar time frame, I doubt they’d just release all 12 episodes already out in one lump deal. They’d want to space them out as much as the currently airing ones, so it might be a while before Viz’s release schedule catches up to the Japanese airing schedule.
Beyond all that, as long as the price isn’t too exorbitant (I find iTunes’ $2 per episode to be fairly reasonable) I probably wouldn’t mind paying a little to stay in the loop with this excellent series.