This is quite simply one of the dumbest decisions in marketing in a long time. The only people who will truly lose is Universal Sports, who will now not only not be collecting the carriage revenue from cable providers but won't be getting the revenue from sports enthusiasts who are buying online packages either.
This is Universal Sports essentially upping the "game of chicken" with cable companies, now that the Olympics are approaching. I think they'll overestimate the number of people who will truly be upset about the Olympics and who will in turn call their cable provider. Given that, they're going to find themselves in the exact same situation as before. If that's the case, what would you do? You'd go back, hat in hand, to customers like us who are willing to pay for online packages.