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every.channel/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.