Apple (News - Alert) has added more mainstream programming to its content stable for the palm-sized Apple TV device, announcing that HBO GO and WatchESPN are now available to customers that carry a compatible cable, satellite or IPTV (News - Alert) subscription. It also launched Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello.

“HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the most popular iOS apps, and are sure to be huge hits on Apple TV,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We continue to offer Apple TV users great new programming options, combined with access to all of the incredible content they can purchase from the iTunes Store.”

HBO GO subscribers can access every HBO TV show, movie, special or documentary ever broadcast via the service; WatchESPN offers live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line. In both cases, viewers will be required to authenticate into the service using credentials from their pay-TV provider, marking the company’s continued “strange bedfellow” arrangement with cable, satellite and IPTV for the gadget. The strategy, which has proven to be somewhat necessary for Apple to build up an outside-of-iTunes content library of any scale for the set-top, began earlier in the year when Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable made its TV Everywhere app available via Apple TV.

Meanwhile, Sky News on Apple TV delivers a live news feed to users in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland, including breaking news and headlines from business, politics, entertainment and more, plus an on-demand news library.

Crunchyroll, a global video service for Japanese Anime and Asian media, will allow subscribers worldwide to watch the latest HD shows one hour after they air in Japan. And Qello, an on-demand streaming service for HD concerts and music documentaries, offers free or paid subscriptions to music fans worldwide. New users can sign up for Crunchyroll and Qello instantly on Apple TV.

Apple TV also offers access to Hulu Plus, Netflix, live sports from MLB (News - Alert), NBA and NHL, and Web content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr. And, Apple said that iTunes users have downloaded more than one billion TV episodes and 380 million movies from iTunes to date, and they are purchasing 800,000+ TV episodes and more than 350,000 movies per day. Via iCloud users can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on an iPhone (News - Alert), iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC.