[ultimatemegax]

The production for an anime series takes a while from decision to completion. From what I've heard (cannot confirm), the production for Nichijou began in 2009. Any airing series has had a lot of decisions made prior to the public announcement, so saying "it's a trump card" isn't true as the production would be at least a year away from that decision. Of course, if sales for Hyouka are not as good as expected, and they announce a new season of Haruhi, that won't stop fans from saying "they had to go back to their cash cow" even though they would not have known the outcome of Hyouka at minimum prior to that decision being made.