Canada's Shaw Communications profit rises on gain from asset sale

(Reuters) - Shaw Communications Inc's profit rose 22 percent in the second quarter, helped by a gain from the sale of some media assets to Corus Entertainment Inc . The cable TV operator said net income rose to C$222 million ($203 million), or 46 Canadian cents per share, from C$182 million, or 38 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts had on average expected Shaw to earn 41 Canadian cents a share on revenue of C$1.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Shaw gained C$49 million from the sale of its 50 percent interest in two French-language channels, Historia and Series+, to Corus earlier this year. Internet customer additions rose to 12,767 from 7,675 a year earlier. Shaw lost 20,758 video subscribers in the quarter, while it added 8,075 landline telephone accounts. Revenue from its media operations fell 4 percent to C$249 million. Total revenue rose about 2 percent to C$1.27 billion for the quarter ended February 28, the Calgary, Alberta-based company said. Shares of Shaw closed at C$26.44 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday. ($1 = 1.0919 Canadian Dollars) (Corrects fourth and seventh paragraphs to fix currency to Canadian dollar from U.S. dollar) (Reporting by Alastair Sharp and Sneha Banerjee; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Prateek Chatterjee)