Advance forge rollout, Ethereum rails, and NBC sources

evolution/proposals/ECP-0096-public-nbc-guide-before-auth.md

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+# ECP-0096: Public NBC Guide Before Auth
+
+Status: Proposed
+
+## Decision
+
+Add a public NBC guide feed to the Tauri app so browseable NBC linear channels appear before any
+Adobe or MVPD authentication happens.
+
+The desktop app will:
+
+- fetch the unauthenticated `friendship.nbc.com` live guide shelf seen in `intake/`
+- materialize those rows as normal `StreamDescriptor` entries in the existing channel list
+- route each discovered row to a stable `nbc.com/live?brand=...` URL so selecting a card enters
+  the existing NBC auth and playback path only when the user chooses to watch
+
+## Motivation
+
+The NBC capture already proved that playback is auth-gated, but the same trace also contains a
+public guide layer with channel titles, current programs, branding, and stream access names. That
+is enough to support browse-before-auth behavior without exposing entitlement or playout tokens.
+
+This keeps discovery public while preserving the existing browser-backed auth boundary from
+ECP-0094 and ECP-0095.
+
+## Scope
+
+In scope:
+
+- unauthenticated NBC public guide fetches for channel browsing
+- conversion of live guide rows into `nbc` stream descriptors and sources
+- Tauri UI updates needed to surface `nbc` rows in the channel list
+
+Out of scope:
+
+- reverse-engineering or exposing entitlement responses
+- direct manifest playback without the existing auth flow
+- a full public sports-event catalog beyond the live channel guide in this cut
+
+## Alternatives Considered
+
+- Keep NBC URL-only. Rejected because it hides browseable public metadata that the trace already
+  exposes.
+- Expose MediaTailor or token-verifier outputs in discovery. Rejected because those belong to the
+  authenticated playback path.
+- Build a separate NBC-only discovery UI. Rejected because the existing channel list can host the
+  guide with less surface area.
+
+## Rollout / Reversibility
+
+- The change is additive to the desktop app and only affects discovery presentation.
+- Roll back by removing the public guide fetch and the synthesized NBC discovery entries.
+- Existing NBC auth and playback handling remains the same once a user chooses to watch.