I puzzled by how many people seem to think there actually is such a thing as a free lunch. But no, there isn't. All things are paid by somebody, eventually. In the case of Microsoft and Live, the gold members pay a part, and other paying customers pay another part. I don't know if it's enough to offset all the costs, so there may be other areas where customers are unknowingly paying for a service they are not using.
In case of Sony and PSN, it's a bit more foggy, but eventually it is the customers who end up paying. Money circulates and flows through the system in a million ways.
Now, to assess what this all means: the publisher has to pay more than before, so the publisher either has to cut costs or increase revenue. Given that the service was previously free, it is unlikely the publishers can increase their revenue from the current situation by using the service, so they have to cut costs. They either won't use the service, or they will cut development and/or marketing costs. Since marketing is a big factor in driving sales, it is more likely that they will cut costs from the development. I wouldn't be happy about that. In fact, I'd be happy to pay a bit to be able to use a service that is useful to me.
