I think the bigger issue is that Verizon dropped a channel so suddenly, period. I for one do not recall receiving any sort of notification - email, Verizon Message, or otherwise - about any channels being dropped whatsoever, until the day it was actually done, and even then it came like 6 to 7 hours AFTER the fact. They can claim they emailed people but unless I see it in my inbox, it didn't happen (and it's a Verizon inbox at that).
Anyway, THAT is what really got people angry, and the fact they did it to TWC...yeah. As many rants as people can come up with about TWC and where it is today (and believe me I know there's a *LOT*), there's just as many who can rant about Verizon's actions too and how illogical they were. And yes the excuse they tried to use is crap - and full of hypocrisy, otherwise they wouldn't have replaced it with another weather source. Hence TWC's reaction to it.