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Bloomberg reports that Apple’s next-generation Apple TV will likely be announced as soon as April. The new Apple TV would be faster and easier to navigate, and it might even host video content from Time Warner Cable, the first such deal with a cable company.

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According to 9to5Mac, new Apple TV hardware is showing up in some iOS 7 builds, and as it’s been rumored, a new box should be on its way in the not-so-distant future.

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Apple is said to be working on a content delivery network (CDN) all its own, according to new information reported last night by the Wall Street Journal. Cupertino wants to build a large network capable of driving more data to its customers, for the purposes of providing improved streaming offerings for its television products.

Apple is making its way down a path that has already been walked by other major Internet content players including Google, Facebook and Netflix, each of which has invested heavily in network infrastructure in order to support the vast amount of media being streamed via their online portals and products.

The WSJ report also notes that building its own CDN will help Apple manage its growing iCloud service usage, as well as hosting and delivering content from the iTunes and App Stores, both streamed and downloaded. Apple has managed to accumulate enough bandwidth from web providers to allow it to move “hundreds of gigabits per second,” however, according to Bill Norton, CSO for the International Internet Exchange, speaking to the WSJ, and that likely means they’re laying the groundwork for much bigger plans beyond existing needs.

The biggest advantage for Apple in building its own CDN might come from improved quality and reliability of services. Apps, movies and music would all potentially download faster if Apple controlled the entire chain, for instance, since it has to spend less time dealing with third-party players outside of its corporate domain, which invariably add delays, miscommunications and possible points of failure into the mix.

WSJ also notes that Apple has been on a bit of a hiring spree when it comes to adding talent specializing in both TV content and CDN tech: Lauren Provo, a Comcast exec came on board in September; Jean-François Mulé, a former VP at a TV research and dev company is another recent hire; the company is also building a roster of CDN specialists, the report suggests.

Netflix’s decision to do the same, which was detailed by GigaOM back in June 2012, was cited as a key factor in the company’s evolution as its streaming volumes increased. It gave Netflix a more direct relationship to the Internet service providers who were the ones tasked with getting their shows to their audience, and Netflix cited YouTube as the archetypical example of how at a certain point of volume, the economic case for doing it yourself becomes overwhelming.

Apple continues to add new content channels to the Apple TV with fair frequency, which adds to its streaming media load, and recent reports suggest that there’s even more coming on the horizon, with a potential SDK for new Apple TV hardware. This WSJ report suggests that’s a very real, very immediate possibility, and offers one more hint that TV may soon be something more akin to a core product line at Apple.

There have been a lot of rumors about how Apple is going to revamp its TV offering. The company currently sells a product which it has termed as a hobby in the past. The Apple TV has been around for a few years, and later this year the company is expected to release a brand new model. Rumors about the new Apple TV have been making the rounds since last week, and the latest claims that it might also have a TV tuner component, allowing users to control their cable boxes through the $99 device, assuming that Apple retains the existing price point.

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New Apple TV Might Have A TV Tuner original content from Ubergizmo.

Apple is rumored to be working on an Apple TV successor, planned for release in the first half of this year according to 9to5Mac. The update would be a set-top box just like its existing model, but with improvements to the new OS and additional content types, the report claims. A separate report out today from iLounge says that Apple will introduce native gaming support to the Apple TV, along with direct support for game controllers, which currently only work via connected iOS devices.

The Apple TV is already a gaming box in that it supports AirPlay streaming of game content from iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. Developers can build experiences that employ the Apple TV in specific ways, too, so that they can provide multi-screen gaming experience to users, as is the case with the Real Racing series. And new controllers that are supported under Apple’s MFI program and the new Bluetooth game controller API provided with iOS 7 (like the new SteelSeries Stratus which goes on sale today) will work with existing Apple TV devices, likewise through the host iOS device.

iLounge claims knowledge of an update that would add game controller support as well as direct game installation on the Apple TV themselves. 9to5Mac, however, suggests only that Apple is building new hardware to replace the current Apple TV, and suggests that a game or app store is a strong possibility for inclusion. 9to5Mac’s own-sourced rumor reporting has a very high rate of accuracy, for what it’s worth.

Apple’s existing method for getting games on the Apple TV, i.e. using connected devices and iOS software combined with AirPlay, has a number of advantages for the company in terms of promoting platform buy-in and halo purchases, and with the iOS 7 Bluetooth controller support, the combination of the two effectively becomes a home microconsole, so it’s unclear how much the company would have to gain by building support for Bluetooth HID gaming hardware or game software directly into the Apple TV. A hardware refresh that updates things like streaming performance or other core parts of the Apple TV experience makes more sense in the context of these reports.

The current Apple TV last received a significant update in March, 2012, so it’s due for a refresh. Rumors of a dedicated Apple television haven’t borne fruit, and don’t look likely to do so anytime soon, but a refresh of the set-top box as an early 2014 launch makes sense in the overall picture of Apple’s hardware update cycle as a way to keep things fresh, since the company tends to favor fall for major announcements on the iPhone/iPad side of things these days.

When contacted by TechCrunch, Apple declined to comment on these reports.