Fans of the comic book aren't that many, the sales of V.4 and tales account to that, not to mention comic books is a dying medium even the big two Marvel/DC don't sell that many comics.
And no this good news in the longevity of the franchise, theres no way Viacom is going to go down, and they didn't just buy the property to sit on it. Mirage could have easily gone bankrupt while not so much for Viacom. Also we didn't know when the series would get a new tv show or anything, now we're getting one in 2012.
I know someone like Roseangelo will say this is the death of the franchise but they have been "hating" on pretty much whatever TMNT related is not up to their personal expectations. This deal has pros and cons and it is not the death of the franchise, in fact TMNT could be bigger than its ever been in recent years.
This is also good news for potential Venus fans
