Amazon is considering plans to offer an online TV service that would rival cable and satellite companies, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Amazon is said to be approaching entertainment companies and media conglomerates about licensing their content to feed to customers over the internet, which would be a first for the industry. The company is reportedly in its "early stages" with the project, and it's not clear if it will actually come to market. If so, it would rival other efforts that are reportedly being worked on within Sony and Google.

Read: What is Amazon’s ‘bigger than Kindle’ mystery product?

Its web TV service could even offer live television programmes, rather than just on-demand shows and movies as currently offered on its Prime Instant Video service. 

Amazon has long been rumoured to be building a set-top box, like a Roku player or Apple TV, which a Web TV service could fit into quite nicely. AllThingsD reported that it will be available sometime in 2014, with third-party apps and content from a variety of sources. 

Last week Amazon teased"revolutionary" product that will be "bigger than Kindle" to potential job seekers at the company. It was also said to "deliver digital media" and "disrupt the current marketplace", which sounds prime for efforts in the television space. 

The hard part of launching a web TV service is striking deals with content providers. Intel ran into this issue with its OnCue pay-TV service, which ultimately pushed it to sell the project to Verizon.