The question now is will Viacom try doing this again to any provider or did they learn their lesson?
The way they should have done it, is while negoations were still going on they should have kept the channels on DIRECTV. Then after a longer set period (30 days, 60 days) then pull the channels and put out a release saying something like this...
"Dear Viacom Watcher, we know you love our channels and we thank you for watching! Unfortunately our contract with (provider name here) expired 60 days ago, we have been trying to negotiate with them in good faith over the past 60 days however there has not been any positive progress in these negotiations so we have had to pull our channels off of (provider name) this was not something we wanted to do but we were left with no choice. We believe we should be paid fairly for our channels and we know times are tough for many so we have been trying our best and will continue trying our best to negoatate a fair deal for both of us. Thank you for your understanding as we work with (provider name) to bring your favorite Viacom channels back to their lineup."
I would have ZERO problem if it was done that way.