BCE Inc. reported a decline in second-quarter profits despite a marked increase in Bell Media revenues, driven largely by record viewership of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The quarter ended June 30 saw Bell Media capitalizing on high demand for advertising during the tournament, which featured all 104 matches broadcast across Bell platforms including TSN, RDS, CTV, Noovo, and Crave.

Bell Media’s advertising revenue rose 5.3 percent year-over-year, contributing to an 8.9 percent increase in operating revenue to $918 million. Subscriber revenue also grew by 6.7 percent, with Crave’s total subscriptions nearing 5.1 million—a 23 percent increase from the previous year. BCE President and CEO Mirko Bibic highlighted the World Cup as a significant driver of engagement, noting that live coverage attracted 30.5 million unique viewers in Canada, with the July 19 final between Spain and Argentina becoming the most watched World Cup match in the country’s history, averaging 6.4 million viewers.

Digital revenues climbed 5.8 percent, supported by increased adoption of ad-supported tiers on Crave, which helped offset a decline in traditional advertising demand and a drop in audio ad revenues following BCE’s 2025 sale of 45 radio stations. The company also noted the absence of federal election-related advertising revenue that had boosted earnings in the previous year.

Despite these revenue gains, BCE’s net profit attributable to common shareholders fell to $558 million, or 60 cents per diluted share, down from $579 million, or 63 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2025. Overall operating revenue edged up to $6.17 billion from $6.08 billion a year earlier. Service revenue rose 4.3 percent to $5.5 billion, while product revenue declined by 16.3 percent to $685 million.

Mobile phone average revenue per user dropped 2.3 percent to $56.30, partly due to the non-recurrence of revenues related to the previous year’s G7 Leaders’ Summit and decreased connection fees following new Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulations. These rules, effective June 12, prohibit fees such as activation, cancellation, and modification charges.

BCE, along with other major carriers Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp., has challenged these regulations, introducing fees that the CRTC argues could contravene the new policy. In May, Bell initiated a $40 device handling fee for customers purchasing devices with wireless plans.

The company reported a net gain of 41,594 postpaid mobile phone subscribers during the quarter, slightly lower than the 44,547 gained in the same period last year. BCE attributed the slowdown to lower promotional activity and limited population growth. Customer churn improved marginally to 1.02 percent from 1.06 percent in 2025.

On an adjusted basis, BCE’s earnings per share increased to 65 cents from 63 cents in the prior-year quarter. However, revenue from business markets, which includes income from telecommunications and artificial intelligence services, declined 8.5 percent to $1.08 billion.