Amazon is considering making its own TV service

Amazon is considering creating its own online TV service, according to Bloomberg.

The company is said to have reached out to CBS and NBC Universal about including their channels.

The talks are currently in preliminary stages, according to the report.

Amazon already has its own on-demand video service, Amazon Prime Instant Video, which offers television shows and movies available for streaming.

What Bloomberg's report is describing, however, sounds more like a TV service that could allow Amazon to compete with TV providers such as Comcast.

The news comes as reports have suggested that Apple has been in talks to create its own TV service as well. Apple was initially expected to launch its service this fall, but now the launch is said to have been delayed until next year since talks with content providers are moving slowly, according to Bloomberg.

It's another indication that the TV industry is moving away from traditional cable bundles and toward online streaming services. Last month, for instance, statistics from Nielsen suggested there was a sharp drop in ratings for returning drama series, as Ad Age reported.

Here's how Netflix CEO Reed Hastings described the future of television when speaking on the company's most recent earnings call:

Linear TV has been on an amazing 50-year run. Internet TV is starting to grow. Clearly over the next 20 years Internet TV is going to replace linear TV. And so I think everyone is scrambling to figure out how do they do great apps, how do they [do] things like "Noggin" which are fantastic. That will just keep getting built up and so it's a transition into figuring out the Internet.

Amazon has declined to provide comment to Business Insider.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.