Have you ever wished you could stream The Big Bang Theory, Two and Half Men, or anything from HBO on your Apple TV, all without the bank-busting necessity of paying for it by the episode? Now you can… if you live in Germany. Last week Apple added Vivendi‘s new subscription video service Watchever in Germany. The service is best described as a German version of Netflix that holds both German and American content, including content from HBO, CBS, ABC and BBC. For a fixed price of 8.99 euros per month, users get unlimited access to thousands of films from US, European and German productions without additional costs or commercials.

Though many of you may think that there isn’t much to say here, we think it’s an interesting move from Apple, because this is the first time Apple adds region-specific, non-US video service on Apple TV. It could mean there is more to come soon: more services and more countries. It’s also interesting from the point of view of Apple’s strategy for the next Apple TV (set-top box or standalone TV set).

We are all still waiting on Apple to make its big announcement regarding television. The fact is, Apple is being down-right HUSH-HUSH about it all. One could argue, and it might as well be me, that Apple is sitting back placing content deals all over the world so that when there offering launches it is not a US-only-device. Everything Apple does is global. They do not sell a product unless they can get in every market possible. Well, a television service that is only based on content out of the United States would be lacking on the international stage. On the other hand, a television service with international content deals – that would be interesting.

Image: Christian Krämer

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Apple TV is continuing to push its way into more and more American households, and the content distributors are slowly but surely falling in line. CBS has been ridiculously slow to embrace streaming options, only recently agreeing to allow their content to be sold on Amazon and Netflix. And according to AllThingsD, CBS’ Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves has declared publicly that he’d be willing to place their programming on Apple TV as well.

He brought it up during the company’s quarterly earnings call in response to an analyst’s question. Moonves declared that Apple TV was a part of the company’s plans, and a partnership was certainly possible. Of course, he was quick to point out that the deal would have to make sense for CBS. And as with all things in big business, that comes down to the money.

When the analyst pushed Moonves for further detail, he mentioned a lot of the same issues that traditional networks have complained about for a while now, including how syndication is handled online, how the digital distribution affects advertising revenue, and what impact the added broadcasts would make on the earning power of rebroadcasting a current show.

Moonves went on to compare the potential of Apple TV to their deals with Amazon and Netflix, which were handled to his satisfaction. It appears that the issue may be how each company views the content. According to Moonves, he doesn’t want to give a potential competitor his own programming if it helps them get stronger. And he clearly hasn’t been satisfied with Apple’s answers yet.

The fact that CBS finally reached an agreement with Hulu this week is an encouraging sign. Even though CBS has turned down Apple several times already, Moonves may simply be coming to the inevitable conclusion: people don’t want to be told when they can watch their shows anymore. On demand is the future, and they’re going to have to get in line eventually or risk losing their audience to those that beat them there.

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Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!