DNS-unblocking configuration for NBC’s iOS app

Today, NBC updated its mobile app for iPad and iPhone. The latest version features AirPlay support which means you can watch NBC TV shows on a large TV if you have an Apple TV connected to it. NBC offers free (ad-supported) content in its iOS app, including:

• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
• Late Night With Seth Myers
• About A Boy
• Grimm
• The Blacklist
• The Voice
• …and many more

In order to use the NBC app on iPad or iPhone outside the U.S., a new configuration entry is required in my non-SNI DNS-unblocking config generator’s config.json file:

    {
      "name": "nbc-ios",
      "dest_addr": "tve_nbc-vh.akamaihd.net",
      "modes": [
        {
          "port": 80,
          "mode": "http"
        },
        {
          "port": 443,
          "mode": "https"
        }
      ],
      "catchall": true,
      "enabled": true
    }

Since NBC uses a geo-fenced video stream from Akamai, the entire content stream has to be proxied through HAProxy which may – depending on your usage – lead to considerable bandwidth usage on your remote VPS server.