4G LTE signals adjacent to digital TV bands can cause interference without costly protection, said a white paper from broadband circuit maker MaxLinear. “Countries moving from analog to digital television coverage are discovering that LTE signals can interfere with digital TV reception,” said MaxLinear in a press release (http://bit.ly/18ZFEaS) on the white paper, LTE Interference on Digital TV in Brazil (http://bit.ly/16zDpdo. To prevent the interference, digital TVs and set-top boxes need “interference rejection capabilities in the tuner, or additional signal filtering,” said the release. “Some countries that have recently deployed LTE services are finding that the cost can be up to $500 per home to fix the problem retroactively.” MaxLinear has developed technology to mitigate the interference, said MaxLinear General Manager Brian Sprague in the release. The white paper measured LTE interference in four cases that involved digital TV antennas, some in the presence of a signal amplifier, the release said. Four of the experiments used single-family homes, and the fifth was for a multi-dwelling unit, the release said.

The latest discussion draft for patent overhaul legislation is “thoughtful” and would “help address the abuse of our current patent system by patent assertion entities,” said the Coalition for Patent Fairness in a statement Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1fCMaeE). House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., put out a second discussion draft on the topic Monday (CD Sept 25 p7). “No one piece of reform will be adequate to address this complex problem, but this package of solutions is a big step forward,” said the coalition. “This legislation would provide greater clarity and balance to a system that has become shrouded in uncertainty and abuse."

About 2 percent of users that reach Google use IPv6, said the Internet Society in a Tuesday release (http://bit.ly/1fCEZDa). That measure crossed the 1 percent threshold in October 2012, it said, making 2013 the third straight year IPv6 usage has doubled, it said. The Internet Society touted several network operators for increasing their IPv6 offerings, including Time Warner Cable, Deutsche Telekom and Swisscom.

Fifteen percent of Americans don’t use the Internet, and another 9 percent don’t use it at home, said a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Of those who don’t use it, 34 percent said it was not relevant to them. Another 32 percent said it was difficult or frustrating to go online, or they are worried about spam, spyware and hackers. Nineteen percent of non-Internet users cite expense, and 7 percent cited a physical lack of access. Those non-users do ask others to complete tasks online for them, and many of them live in a household where someone else uses the Internet at home. Eight percent of the non-users said they wanted to go online. Pew commissioned the report from Princeton Survey Research Associates, which did telephone interviews in April and May among 2,252 adults age 18 and over, in both English and Spanish and both by landline and cellphone.

The House Communications Subcommittee will take on the 5 GHz spectrum band in a hearing at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in 2123 Rayburn, it said in a notice (http://bit.ly/170C3fW). No witnesses were announced. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 told NTIA and the FCC “to examine the possibility of expanding unlicensed use of the 5 GHz band,” the notice said.

The FCC International Bureau dismissed applications involving earth stations from GCI Communication Corp. and X2nSat for being incomplete. GCI filed an application to modify its earth station authorization to add a 3.8-meter antenna to operate in the 3700-4200 MHz and 5925-6425 MHz bands, the bureau’s Satellite Division said in a letter (http://bit.ly/19znpuW). GCI didn’t identify the intended points of communication on its Form 312, it said. The division calculated that EIRP density should be 46.4 dBW/4kHz and 84.2 dBW/4kHz for emission designators, which is different from the EIRP density listed by GCI, it said. X2nSat didn’t provide radiation hazard studies for all types of earth stations that it requested in its application for a new very small aperture terminal network, the division said in a separate letter (http://bit.ly/15tf6yE). X2nSat also must provide a demonstration that the Newtec .75-meter antenna, model MDM2200, is compliant, it said.

Mediacom is deploying Qwilt to support its online video delivery service, said the companies in a news release Wednesday (http://yhoo.it/16zxxkl). Qwilt’s services enable operators to reduce the impact of over-the-top video traffic, improve the quality of experience for subscribers and monetize video delivery within their networks, said the company.

Aereo will expand its streaming service to Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and San Antonio, the company said in a press release (http://bit.ly/18VZ3JF). Aereo already streams broadcast TV in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Miami, Houston and Dallas, the release said. The new cities join Aereo’s list of target cities for 2013 and 2014, which includes Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and others, Aereo said. CEO Chet Kanojia said the cities were added to the expansion list because of customer demand. “Consumers are tired of being pawns in the tug-of-war between big businesses,” said Kanojia. “They deserve better.” Customers who live in Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and San Antonio metropolitan areas -- or those in other targeted expansion cities -- can pre-register at Aereo.com to receive “priority access” to Aereo when it launches in their location. “Launch dates for these cities will be announced later this year,” said the release. The company is involved in ongoing copyright infringement lawsuits in federal courts in New York and Boston, where Hearst Broadcasting has asked for a preliminary injunction barring the service from streaming copyrighted content. No ruling on that injunction request has been made, according to court documents.

AT&T U-verse is bringing its service to five more states beginning Sept. 29, said the company in a news release Wednesday (http://yhoo.it/19zl3MF). The service will be available in select cities in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, said AT&T. Customers will be able to order high-speed Internet at up to 45 Mbps downstream and up to 6 Mbps upstream, said the company.

C Spire is starting a gigabit fiber-to-the-home initiative in Mississippi and the company issued a request for information from neighborhoods, towns and cities to tell the company why their community needs fiber, said C Spire in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1fCTpTZ). “The communities that want it the most, and move quickest, will get it first,” said the company. The FTTH service will be available to any community near an existing fiber route “that opens its arms to welcome it” with fast-tracking permitting and homeowner pre-registration, said C Spire. The company’s fiber infrastructure of more than 4,000 miles of fiber cable already supports its 4G LTE network and C Spire Business Solutions, said the company. C Spire plans a town hall meeting at its corporate offices in Ridgeland, Miss., at 2 p.m. Monday to answer questions about its deployment plans.