Barack Obama is talking to Netflix about creating television shows with them

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) -- Former President Barack Obama is talking to streaming service Netflix about producing and creating new shows that give him a wider reach.

The discussions, which were first reported by the New York Times, are in the initial stages. But if a deal were to go through, the shows that would be available to viewers include:

• a panel show hosted by Obama about topics that were a centerpiece of his presidency: health care, immigration, foreign policy, voting rights, immigration, climate change

• documentaries and series that match the Obama family's beliefs and values

• a show hosted by Michelle Obama about nutrition

Before President Obama left office, reports surfaced from Mic that the 44th President of the United States was interested in a digital media career. At the time, it was believed that Obama wanted to launch his own media company that could include " a show streaming on Netflix, a web series on a comedy site or something else."

Obama utilized digital media many times during his presidency. In the heat of the health care debate, Obama sat down for a mock interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis to promote exchanges that could be purchased at Healthcare.gov. As a result of the 2014 interview, traffic to healthcare.gov shot up 40 percent on the same day the satire video was released.

In 2015, Obama sat down with three YouTube stars to promote his agenda after giving his State of the Union speech. As CNN pointed out at the time, "there were some hard-hitting questions" but most of the questions asked were "weird." The videogenerated over 3 million views on YouTube.

Most recently, Obama sat down for an interview with David Letterman on the comedian's newest show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction."

President Obama isn't the first President to consider a production company.

President Trump and his production company were co-producers on his hit reality series "The Apprentice" as well as "Donald Trump's Fabulous World of Golf" on The Golf Channel. The Financial Times also reported before the 2016 election was decided that President Trump and Jared Kushner were interested in a post-election television start-up to "capitalize on the populist movement."

Netflix, which has recently signed deals with producers Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, reaches 117 million subscribers worldwide.