It might be time to start making alternative plans to watch the Los Angeles Lakers next week if you don’t have Time Warner Cable.

The cable provider fired a shot on Wednesday as to why they’ve been unable to reach a deal with their competition after rejecting a proposal from Cox Cable:

“With the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Galaxy and Los Angeles Sparks, two networks and unprecedented behind-the-scenes programming, Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes are delivering tremendous value for Southern California sports fans. Any assertion that we are the highest priced regional sports outlet in the country is simply untrue; as a significant buyer of regional sports across the country, we know that there are higher priced regional sports networks, including Root Sports that we buy from DirecTV. Cox and DirecTV know that there is no regional sports network anywhere in the country that is offered on an optional tier — that would be unprecedented. If Cox or DirecTV choose not to carry our networks, we and their customers will be very disappointed but we are confident there will be other alternatives for their customers to see this highly-anticipated Lakers season.”

Alternatives? You mean streaming from illegal sites? Because that’s what the public will do.

If Time Warner is expecting a mass exodus from the competition to join them just to watch the Lakers, they are delusional.

Just get the deal done already.