Canadian phone giant BCE Inc. on Thursday reported higher second quarter earnings, in part following the Bell Media division acquiring Astral Media.

BCE reported $606 million in earnings for the three months to June 30, compared to a profit of $571 million in 2013.

Overall operating revenues rose 4.4% to $5.22 billion.

The big earnings driver for BCE was wireless customers upgrading to smartphones with fatter data plans.

But on the media front, BCE pointed to increased advertising and subscriber fee revenues after acquiring a host of assets from the former Astral Media.

Bell Media revenue jumped 36% to $761 million, with continuing Canadian advertising weakness offset by TSN expanding from two to five channel feeds.

Bell Media also secured rate increases for specialty channels, including TSN, and higher revenues from TV Everywhere products and mobile TV subscriber growth.

The broadcaster also absorbed higher content costs for TV shows and sporting event rights for its TSN properties.

TSN and RDS recently reached a new multi-year agreement with the Formula One group through 2019, and a new separate deal with the United States Golf Association for exclusive Canadian coverage of the U.S. Open to 2022.

On the advertising front, BCE pointed to a continuing shift in consumer spending on online services, including Netflix Canada, and the impact of fewer NHL hockey playoff games on TSN compared to 2013.