Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) said its BellExpressVu satellite TV service increased its annual revenues by 21 percent during the second quarter ($286 million) and 23 percent year-to-date to $563 million. The financial growth, the company said, was driven by year-over-year ExpressVu subscriber base growth of 10.2 percent and a $4 increase in monthly average revenue per unit (ARPU).

According to company information, BCE’s BellExpressVu - Canada’s largest satellite TV service - added 19,000 net new video subscribers during Q2 and 31,000 year-to-date. The company added 63,000 and 92,000 for the same periods in 2005. BCE said the decreases were due to more aggressive price competition from cable and fewer promos in the retail marketplace.

BCE recently announced BellExpressVu’s “All in One” plan that combines hardware and programming into one digital package to promote the adoption of its video service nationwide.

The company also said that higher year-over-year churn contributed to “softer net activations” but the video churn rate increased by just .1 percent in both the second quarter and first half of 2006. Total video customer base reached 1.758 million at the end of the three-month period representing an increase of 10.2 percent compared with the previous year.