This is better understood as a strategic move, not a tactical one. It's not about Arrested Development qua Arrested Development, it's about not needing Fox, and not Fox qua Fox either but Fox as a particular instance of the general category of television channels.
Yes, that probably & hopefully is their strategy. But is it mere co-incidence that their first major play of that strategy is for a show that is well loved by geeks? My guess is that the above probability does hold true, and that's part of the reason that this particular show is a going first.