Nintendo announced their TVii channel back in September, but they never specifically said when it would release. In other words, there was no promise that the free entertainment channel would be available on the day of the console's release. And now, Nintendo has confirmed that TVii will indeed not be available on launch day.
However, you will not have very long to wait. Nintendo announced that it will arrive in December, so if you're picking up the new console this weekend, you'll just have to make do with playing games for a little while.
But that's the real reason why you preordered it, right? For the games?