According to the Wall Street Journal newspaper account this morning, Apple would be currently working with Sharp and Foxconn on the design of a new TV. Although many have been speculation in the past about the output of a TV from the Cupertino, since the journal they claim to have reliable sources.

Apple would be working with suppliers of components in Asia to test several sets of designs of TVs, a story that would bring closer more than ever the real possibility of a tv under the Apple label. According to the newspaper, at least two people confirmed them who work alongside Sharp with respect to the design of the new device.
The rumor is very likely if we think that Apple works with suppliers for new designs at all times, either televisions or other adoptions that may or not end up on the market. In the case of television, WSJ says that it is a project in time where Apple has been shuffling different prototypes for years. As a general rule, the company puts to the test and develop products internally before doing so with external suppliers.
On the other hand, the provider of Apple, Hon Hai, known by the trade name Foxconn, has been expanding in recent years in the market of large TVs in HD along with Sharp. They would also come to endorse the words of Tim Cook in a recent interview for NBC News. During the same Cook assured that:

Our interest in TVs has progressed beyond a hobby. Turn on the television today has nothing to do with 20 or 30 years ago. It is an area of great interest for us, I can't say more than that.

Regarding the characteristics, what little is know as the journal is that they would be designing based on an advanced 60-inch LCD TV. A rumor that could end in anything once more or could even lead to an alternative device that is not a television. Time will tell if Apple TV finally hit the market.