Nickelodeon bent a lot of Bending fans the wrong way last week when it was revealed that it was suddenly pulling Season 3 of Legend of Korra off the network airwaves, but apparently the remaining episodes will be released online, according to show co-creator Bryan Konietzko.
 
Konietzko posted this image on his Tumblr after the announcement, and promised fans an update at San Diego Comic Con.  At the panel, covered by Io9, Konietzko explained the sudden move, "So obviously there's been a big shakeup," he said.  "But pulling it off the channel and moving it to digital exclusively is part of the huge sea change in the whole industry."
 
"[W]hen Book 1 of Korra came out it did pretty good on TV but its online presence was just insane, Konietzko explained.  "And as the show's gone along, by Book 2, the numbers in the digital streaming greatly outweighed the channel."  The Book 2 finale, Konietzko said, was the biggest event of the year on Nick.com. 
 
But the same is not true of the television broadcast, where Legend of Korra is unlike other Nickelodeon programming.  "It's no secret that Avatar, especially Korra, is not typical Nickelodeon fare," Konietzko said.  "And so they've had kind of a hard time fitting it into their programming."
 
Show co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino also confirmed on his facebook page that Book 4 will also air online.  "And there is most definitely a Book 4.  All the pre-production is done and Studio Mir is hard at work on the animation."
 
Legend of Korra is generating sales behind a steadily increasing merch product range from Dark Horse (see "Dark Horse to Produce 'Avatar' and 'Korra' Merch"), as well as an art book for the animated series (see "'The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series'").
 
No Korra graphic novels have been announced yet, but it’s worth noting that Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel series did not begin until after the TV series had concluded.