Why Germany's Netflix Might Not Show House of Cards

Netflix will open its steaming service to people in a half-dozen additional European countries by the end of the year, nearly doubling the number of nations it serves on on the continent.

The move announced on Wednesday will be the company’s biggest expansion in years, bringing streaming video to Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. From a technological perspective, offering service in one country is pretty similar to offering service in another: Plug in the pipes and get the flicks flowing. But Netflix’s main challenge as it moves into new parts of the world is securing distribution rights to movies and television shows. That’s why the service looks different in different countries.