The first presidential debate happens tonight, from 9-10:30 p.m. EST at the University of Denver in Colorado.

There are several ways to watch the debate live, notes Phone Arena:

1. A YouTube app on your device, or the mobile version, as YouTube will be streaming live the preisdential and VPs debates through its own Election Hub, as well as on the ABC News YouTube channel. The YouTube Election hub will also feature live commentary from media partners like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Al Jazeera English and Univision. The debate video and the accompanying material will stay on YouTube after the event finishes.

2. Comcast subscribers can watch through Comcast’s Xfinity TV app, watch the CNN debate coverage live, or through the CNN app as well.

3. Samsung and Peel TV are offering owners of some Galaxy devices with the Peel Smart Remote TV app (available both for Android and iOS) to give live feedback during the debates, while watching them. It works on the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Tab 7.7, Tab 2 7.0, Tab 2 10.1, and the fresh Note 10.1.

Some of the 2012 presidential apps include:

• Romney-Ryan:
  The official campaign app has the usual presidential/vice-presidential candidate bios, info about their campaign stops, issues, platforms and interviews.
• Obama Biden 2012:
  Get all the latest news, updates and share campaign information with friends and family.
• Settle It! (Android):
  PolitiFact created this app which allows you to quickly check the veracity of on side or the other’s claims against their opponents in an unbiased way.
• PollTracker (iOS):
  Pulls results from various reputable poll companies with every change in registered voters preferences, swing states inclinations and so on.
• Ad Hawk (Android):
  Basically a Shazam or SoundHound for political ads that air on TV. Just hit the button when an ad airs, and the application will quickly recognize which group is behind the ad, how much money has it received and spent so far, and will give you background for the fact-checking, and links for more info.
• Vote!!! (iOS):
  Play as President Obama or Mitt Romney in a slapstick battle for the White House. Equip your candidate of choice with a variety of iconic American outfits, accessories and items.
• Obama vs Romney (Android):
  Obama and Romney decided to take it outside and duel their way into the White House. Choose your side and help one of them to kick his opponent out!

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AT&T, Clearwire and HP, among others, have agreed to an LTE patent pool that could mean fewer lawsuits over the use of the technology. The patent pool, managed by Dolby Laboratories’ subsidiary Via Licensing, includes AT&T, Clearwire, Hewlett-Packard, DirecTV Group subsidiary DTVG, KDDI, NTT Docomo, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and ZTE.

Via’s LTE patent pool provides transparent and nondiscriminatory access to LTE essential patents to encourage growth and development of this important technology, said the company. The LTE patents are so-called “frand,” or “fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory” terms to allow compatibility between devices and rival products.

The pool will give manufacturers access to these costly patents, which supporters hope means less legal-wrangling and more resources spent on development.

The inclusion of DirecTV is interesting, and the pool includes many TD-LTE supporters such as Clearwire, ZTE, and Telefonica. The company expects that other organizations will join the pool and he is confident that the number of partners will increase quickly over the next few months. Among the names that are missing include some of the largest LTE infrastructure providers including Alcatel, Ericsson, Huawei, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Qualcomm, China Mobile, and others.

According to Roger Ross, president of Via Licensing, some patent holders are waiting for the resolution of existing patent disputes before committing. “It’s difficult for companies to join if there are essential patents in dispute,” Ross said. Via Licensing hopes to secure 20 percent of the intellectual property behind LTE in its pool.

Nokia, for its part, says it has already licensed its LTE essential patents to more than 40 companies, noting that it has more than 400 families of patents related to the technology, reports All Things D.

“This has been estimated by independent sources to represent around 50 percent of the total patents declared essential to LTE by all companies,” Nokia said.

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Charlie Ergen’s PCIA keynote speech, at the Wireless Infrastructure Association today, is set to “discuss DISH’s wireless plans” and will be followed by a Q&A session with FCC Chairman Genachowskix (Twitter feed) began at 11 am (livestream).

DISH has been pushing back at the FCC on the proposed shift of their uplinks by 5MHz into the 2005-25MHz band, claiming that a 5MHz buffer is needed between their spectrum and Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) operations above 2025MHz, and that a shift would cause serious delays for their network buildout plans.

After delivering a keynote speech at the PCIA wireless infrastructure conference, Ergen said Dish will need more spectrum if it wants to compete with carriers like AT&T and Verizon that each have 100 MHz of spectrum total.

Fierce Wireless reports he did not say how Dish plans to get more spectrum but indicated that it would look to partner with a company that had more low- or mid-band spectrum. In May, Ergen said Dish has enough spectrum to start its wireless business, but he seemed to be indicating here that longer term it would need more spectrum resources to be a disruptive force in the market.

There was no blockbuster carrier deal announced or any new business ventures mentioned.

Satellite spectrum guru Tim Farrar believes that DISH could make a deal with Clearwire or AT&T for their 40 MHz of MSS spectrum, but needs to come up with a concrete plan for their network buildout as well as partnerships that AT&T would consider a real threat.

If Dish wants “wireless cable”, then he’s going to need 2.6 or 3.5 GHz. The lower bands and the new 600 MHz TV bands won’t deliver 40 MHz of bandwidth, but they will deliver mobility. You really need both.

AT&T has the resources to buy into the 600 MHz band and might combine their 2.3 GHz holdings with Dish’s 2.1 GHz holdings — in 4-5 years.

But nothing’s gonna happen until the FCC okays Dish to use their 40 MHz of 2.1 GHz spectrum terrestrially. That hasn’t happened yet.

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T-Mobile USA and metroPCS have made it official, with news of a merger of the two companies this morning.

Rather than being absorbed into T-Mobile, the merger is essentially starting a new company with MetroPCS holding 26% and T-Mobile USA holding 74%.

Combining T-Mobile and MetroPCS’ complementary spectrum is expected to provide greater network coverage, deeper LTE network deployment and a path to at least 20×20 MHz of 4G LTE in many areas. Existing MetroPCS customers will be migrated to a common LTE-based network as they upgrade their handsets. That migration is anticipated to be complete by 2H 2015.

MetroPCS and T-Mobile use AWS spectrum (1.7/2.1 GHz) making it easier for the two companies to combine their resources, and move to a unified LTE approach. Both see the AWS band as the future for 4G LTE.

In the more common PCS band (1.9 GHz), used by virtually all U.S. carriers, the two companies currently use different 3G technology for voice and data — T-Mobile uses GSM/UMTS while MetroPCS uses CDMA.

The combined company delivers around 42.5 million subscribers in the U.S. with an estimated revenue of around USD 24.8 billion with an EBITDA margin of around 28.6 percent.

The company’s presentation indicates it will capture growth in industry’s fast growing no-contract services, with:

• Greater customer value and choice Value Leadership
• Greater spectrum position, network coverage and capacity
• Deeper LTE network deployment with path to at least 20×20 MHz
• Improves marketing and purchasing scale
• Projected cost synergies of $6 – $7Bn NPV(1)
• Clear cut technology path to one common LTE network
• Straightforward integration with clear migration path for MetroPCS subscribers onto TMobile network

Merging T-Mobile and MetroPCS could prove tricky, reports the NY Times. While the two could eventually combine their LTE networks, the majority of their phones run on incompatible network standards, reducing any cost savings from a tie-up in the short run.

MetroPCS currently has 19 markets running 4G LTE in 2X5MHz channels, but those channels are shared with CDMA users and LTE voice users so their LTE data speeds are similar to 3G speeds.

Currently, MetroPCS shares CDMA and LTE on their AWS band, so the band will have to be cleared of CDMA before its capacity can be repurposed entirely for LTE. And MetroPCS offers only prepaid plans, a business that T-Mobile has been eager to exploit — but which also carries lower margins.

It’s unclear how regulators will react to the combination of T-Mobile (the nation’s fourth largest wireless carrier) and MetroPCS (the nation’s sixth largest wireless carrier), but it appears that the transaction might have a better chance of succeeding than AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile.

The transaction brings the spectrum holdings closer to those of the big three carriers, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint (with Clearwire’s 2.6 GHz spectrum). But with 2 x 20 MHz in the AWS band by T-Mobile and 1 x 10 Mhz by Verizon, it may put pressure on Sprint to expand its 2 x 5MHz position in the PCS band. AT&T is behind in the LTE spectrum race, with only a proposal to expand their 700 MHz service to 2.3 GHz (in 3-5 years). That means it may have to go with Dish (with 40 MHz of 2.1 spectrum) or do a deal with Sprint on 2.6 GHz.

Shares in Leap Wireless, another prepaid wireless service provider, closed more than 8 percent higher on Tuesday, as investors hoped the company would prove to be another merger target. But analysts said that Leap, with its focus on lesser markets and with major operational problems, may remain independent for a while longer, according to the NY Times.

It’s bad news for Sprint, which has a number of prepaid divisions, including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Assurance Wireless. Sprint was reportedly close to buying MetroPCS, but its board nixed the deal due to strained financial resources.

The merged company will be headquartered in Bellevue and have $24.8 billion in annual sales, although the combined company will “retain a significant presence” in Dallas, its release said.

Brier Dudley in the Seattle Times notes that McCaw Cellular established the first national, roaming network in 1990. Two years later, McCaw sold the company to AT&T for $11.5 billion. That led to the founding of Western Wireless in 1994, which became VoiceStream Wireless which was eventually sold to T-Mobile in 2001 for US$35 billion. McCaw then took interest in Nextel. Within four years Nextel grew significantly and was later acquired by Sprint Nextel, for $6.5 billion in 2006. In August 2004, McCaw founded Clearwire Corporation, which now covers some 120 million people in the United States.

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Half of U.S. adults now have a mobile connection to the Web through a smartphone or tablet, up sizably from a year ago, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.

The survey of 9,513 U.S. adults, said 22% of U.S. adults own a tablet, twice the number from a year earlier, while 44% of U.S. adults have smartphones, up from 35% in May 2011. Now, just over half, 52%, of tablet owners report owning an iPad, compared with 81% in the survey a year ago.

Android-based devices make up the bulk of the remaining tablet ownership, 48% overall, dominated largely by the Kindle Fire.

Pew’s survey was conducted online from June to August 2012, before the release of either the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD, so the results are a little dated. Tablet ownership has likely increased.

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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking comment on the design and business plan of the first responder LTE network.

The Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative authorized the development and deployment of a Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network for use by emergency responders throughout the country, using the 700 MHz “D Block”, and the adjoining narrowband block.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), is the body inside the NTIA in charge of designing and running the network. It will seek an FCC license for the 20 MHz of broadband spectrum and have the SAFECOM executive board serve as the public-safety advisory committee to FirstNet.

FirstNet Chairman Sam Ginn, at their first meeting on September 25,