Google "is considering a plan to offer paid cable-TV services to consumers," the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Google recently hired former cable TV executive Jeremy Stern, who is reportedly leading talks with media companies. But a Google cable TV service is still only a possibility.

"Google has discussed distributing major TV channels from companies like Walt Disney Co., Time Warner Inc., and Discovery Communications Inc. as part of the video service, though the discussions were exploratory and no final decisions have been made," the Journal wrote.

A cable service would be separate from the Google TV, which is comprised of software and hardware to stream YouTube and other Internet content to the television screen. Google has been known to bring numerous speculative projects to market, too, only to kill them off when they fail. We're still waiting to hear what Google's plans are for SageTV, which Google purchased for its DVR and Slingbox-like capabilities. But given Google's reliance on advertising money, television could be an important market for the company after all. Still, competition will be robust; Apple, which already has its own Apple TV media streaming device, is rumored to be expanding its own push into the television market as well.