I really don't love big cable and satellite TV companies.

Who does? Their rates go up constantly and the cable companies in particular have a really bad reputation for customer service. But none of that is what's bothering me today. It's the way they package their services that ticks me off.

You know, of course, that you want specific channels and could do without others (I personally don't know anybody who wants that dreadful jewelry shopping channel). Naturally, the channels they force on you in these packages have more to do with the interests of your TV provider than what you, or more broadly, the market wants. Does anybody honestly believe that Shop NBC is popular enough to be in DirecTV's basic package? And of course, DirecTV is owned by the same company that owns the Fox networks, so you know that any new Fox channel gets automatic placement in the lineup that we pay for, no matter how bad it is (Comcast also owns channels and practices the same preferential treatment).

I think it's time for Congress to pass the much-debated reforms to this, forcing this monopolistic practice to end. The set-top boxes are certainly able to allow you to order and view only the channels you wish to support. There's no excuse to do otherwise, except to serve the interests of these providers and not us, the viewers.

CDs listened to today:

• Joggers: Solid Guild
• Rand Steiger: Hexadecathlon: "A New-Slain Knight"
• John Adams: Shaker Loops
• Beatles: With the Beatles
• Kenny Wheeler: Music For Large & Small Ensembles
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The String Quartets