Apple Inc is in early talks to join the bidding for Hulu, the online video site that Walt Disney Co, News Corp and its other owners have put up for sale, Bloomberg cited two unidentified sources as saying.

Apple has begun preliminary discussions that may eventually lead to an acquisition, Bloomberg reported without elaborating.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Hulu's owners, which also include Comcast Corp's NBC Universal and Providence Equity Partners, have begun preliminary sale talks with about a dozen potential buyers, including Google Inc and Microsoft Corp a source familiar with the situation said this month.

The video site is expected to have 1 million paid subscribers by the end of summer, earlier than previously forecast.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Gary Hill and Carol Bishopric)