Do you get the FUNimation channel? Do you even know it exists??

If you do get it, the company has announced that several new programs will begin airing on digital TV in the U.S. next Monday (March 10th). MoonPhase, Peach Girl, Suzuka, and Black Cat are the latest offerings on the channel, and they join four other programs that were scheduled to start showing this week: Shingu, Ninja Nonsense, Record of Lodoss War, and Boogiepop Phantom.

Other programs are re-starting from their first episodes, and its quite an impressive lineup when you look at them all together: Blue Gender, Dragon Ball, Kodocha, Pandalian, Spiral, Case Closed, Fruits Basket, Negima!, Hare+Guu, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Baki the Grappler, Slayers, and Kiddy Grade.

So...what exactly is the FUNimation channel? It's the second 24-hour, 7 days a week anime channel in North America, following in the footsteps of ADV's Anime Network. But there's a catch -- it's only available in a few places and via a few means. Darnit.

The channel broadcasts in the Sacramento area of California (KBTV-CA), in New York City (WRNN-DT3), and on MyTV Dayton (WRGT-DT2) and MyTV Columbus (WSYX-DT3) in Ohio. (The Dayton and Columbus anime blocks run from 1:00-3:00 a.m. ET, so even if you live there, you'll need a way up to replay the programs unless you're a serious night owl.) It's also included in the DISH Network's satellite basic package (on their CoLours TV Network) and Verizon's FIOS fiber optic service. But so far, none of these services carries it more than two hours a day, except FIOS TV and New York.

Canadian viewers should note that they can also get bits and pieces from the FUNimation network, on any service that carries CoLours TV and Razer.

You can check FUNimation TV's own site for updates on any new carriers, but for now, they're urging fans to contact their cable providers to request them to carry it. In the meantime, those of us who don't have access to this channel can read the growing list of programs, and gnash our teeth.