You should never alienate your largest provider. You may win short-term gains but you'll never get to where you want to be, which is in providing the consumer with the best possible service. You can't assume the consumer doesn't know what's happening, or that he doesn't have a certain expectation. What's happening in Argentina would lead you to believe that operators are very quick to ignore that. But the situation is resolvable.
Programming is very important to the consumer.
Ultimately, he doesn't care how he gets his product. He's not signing up to get cable, he wants channels. These adjustments occur periodically, it's not the first or the last time this sort of thing will happen. It's a question of having enough negotiating power. Never forget the consumer-you're providing him with a service.