What we would do would be to just do without. We cut the cord on February 9th of this year, and to be honest, we really haven't missed it.
So the network has nothing further to lose from you. You're a cord cutter. They've already lost all revenue from your household (plus millions of others yet to come.)
What they're gambling on is that while you are unwilling to pay $100 per month for a 200-channel cable package, you might be willing to pay $15 per month just for ESPN. Or $6 per month for FXX. Or $15 per month for HBO. Or $6 per month for CBS.
If they create their own streams, they run the risk of losing viewership and eventually, going away!
I don't think the cable/sat model will ever completely disappear. There will always be households who want a great variety of programming and are willing to pay for it. And you can expect to pay relatively small fees on a per-channel basis when buying in bulk.
But what's happening is networks are shying away from portals like Prime and Netflix which (until now) have provided a wide variety for a small fee. Even though a dedicated Disney streaming service won't attract the 100 million subscribers Netflix has, Disney is betting that their revenues will still be larger than the small slice they're getting of the $10 monthly Netflix fee.
Disney/ESPN can't stop people from saying "I don't want your content under any circumstances." But what they can do is offer options: Pay $100 or so per month as part of a bundled cable package or pay $10-15 per month a la carte for the small number of networks you prefer.