Comcast Corp. has approached 21st Century Fox to express acquisition interest, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper said it’s unclear whether the cable giant is exploring a purchase of all or part of Fox.

WhenWalt Disney Co. recently reached out to Fox, the two sides discussed a potential deal in which Fox would only sell its movie and TV studio, some U.S. cable networks and international distribution business, but not its news and sports networks or the Fox broadcast network.

The Disney-Fox talks fell through.

A deal between Comcast and Fox would be signficant. 21st Century Fox has a market value of $53.7 billion.

The talks may not result in a final agreement, the WSJ said.

Comcast last month reported deeper losses of cable subscribers in the third quarter as more people cut the cord. Cable subscriptions fell by 125,000, compared with the estimate for a loss of 136,000, according to StreetAccount data cited by CNBC.

21st Century Fox last week reported quarterly revenue gains of 10 percent from cable programming, which includes Fox News and FX, compared with the same period a year earlier. Revenue from the company's film business increased about 3 percent. 

21st Century Fox has held talks to sell most of its assets to Walt Disney, according to a CNBC report last week. The two companies operate in several of the same industries. Disney is interested in Fox's movie studio, TV production and international assets such as Star and Sky, as well as entertainment networks such as FX and National Geographic.