This Los Angeles Times editorial takes a swipe at the telcos for hiking fees on custom calling features:

AT&T and Verizon wasted little time taking advantage of the freedom that the California Public Utilities Commission granted them in August. Unleashed from regulations that limited how they priced many of their services, California's largest telcos quickly hiked the fees they charged for many of their custom calling services, such as caller ID and call waiting. The phone companies had argued for unlimited "pricing flexibility" by pointing to the many phone lines they were losing to rivals, such as cable TV operators. They also said allowing them to respond quickly to competitors' promotional offers would (in AT&T's words) ensure that "customers reap the full benefits of competition."

AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and Cox Communications have aimed their biggest discounts at the heaviest consumers, who'll buy bundles of wired, wireless and Internet services. In addition, in the market segments where competition is widespread, such as long-distance calling and broadband connections, phone and cable companies have kept their prices down. But providers have to make money somewhere, so they've turned to the segments where competition is weakest. For example, while Cox Communications in Orange County has discounted its phone service aggressively — it now offers a phone line free for six months — it has steadily raised the price of cable TV programming.

Telephone customers have saved millions of dollars because Cable has provided competition to the traditional telephone companies like AT&T and Verizon. It’s no shell game. As far as the price of cable, that complaint is certainly nothing new. But while cable customers don’t necessarily care about the economic factors driving the cost of cable—they just want to watch what they want on TV—those factors do play a big role in the ultimate price they pay.

Cable distributors have to pay owners of the networks for the right to deliver those channels. The cost of programming is perhaps the biggest factor impacting the price of cable, and programming costs rise dramatically every year. When an athlete like Alex Rodriguez signs a multimillion-dollar contract or actors like Kyra Sedgwick or Tom Cruise get millions for their TV show or next movie, consumers ultimately pay. In the case of sports stars, for instance, their enormous salaries factor into the high cost of TV rights to air their games, which increases the price networks charge for distribution, which, yes, trickles down to the consumer level in the price for tickets to the game or team merchandise, and, yes, to the cost of cable.

No one likes to pay high prices for anything. But, while the price of multi-channel video –whether from your cable provider, or DirecTV, Dish or Verizon—has risen, so has the value. While the L.A. Times may deride the price of a “bundle” of services, the fact is that cable customers have saved, and they’ve gotten more and more new features, like HDTV, on-demand, digital video recorders, etc. that have dramatically enhanced the convenience and pleasure of watching TV—in addition to discounts on phone service.