Bell TV Canada adds 20k subscribers in 1Q10

Thursday, May 6th, 2010
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MONTREAL — BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company, today reported BCE and Bell results for the first quarter of 2010.

The Bell Wireline segment delivered revenue and EBITDA growth as well as solid gains in TV thanks to Bell TV’s ongoing leadership in High Definition and in high-speed Internet subscribers with the introduction ofnew high-speed fibre services such as Bell Fibe™ Internet.

TV revenues were $428 million this quarter, or 10.6% higher than last year reflecting subscriber growth and upgrades to higher-priced programming packages, driven partly by the increased adoption ofpremium set-top boxes.

Total TV subscribers increased by 19,889 this quarter compared to an increase of 11,743 in the same period last year as a result of higher wholesale activations and increased sales through direct channels. At the end of the quarter, there were 1,968,766 TV subscribers. TV subscriber churn remained stable at 1.1%.

Subscribers – DTH and VDSL (k):

                   2010                      2009                        2008
                  -----  --------------------------  --------------------------
                    Q1      Q4     Q3     Q2     Q1     Q4     Q3     Q2     Q1
                  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----
Net activations      20     41     40     20     12     14      7      8      1
Total EOP         1,969  1,949  1,924  1,884  1,864  1,852  1,838  1,831  1,823

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