A war of words has erupted between the Nine and Seven networks after Seven announced it was launching a new early news program.

Seven has unveiled its plan to launch a 5.30am news bulletin from Monday, putting it up against the start of Nine's Today show.

Nine said the move showed Seven's "desperation", while Seven hit back saying Nine had "made desperation an art form".

A Nine spokesman said he believed Seven was "panicking" about Today's increased ratings.

"This copycat stuff, moving to 5.30am to cover what the resurgent Today Show did months ago, is a sure sign of Seven's desperation about Sunrise," Nine's corporate spokesman David Hurley told AAP.

"They can hear the hoofbeats as the Today Show runs them down, and they're panicking - and following us. It's the best possible compliment."

Despite being No.1 Sunrise, hosted by Melissa Doyle and David Koch, has this year lost some of its edge over the Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic fronted Today.

Today's move to a 5.30am start several months ago, further improved the Nine show's TV ratings.

In the survey year to date, Today is up 10.2 per cent nationally, while Sunrise is down 5.6 per cent.

But Seven says it's not concerned.

"Nine is losing in breakfast television, 6pm news and public affairs," Seven spokesman Simon Francis said.

"Seven News is now in its fourth consecutive year of leadership over Nine News and Today Tonight is now in its fourth consecutive year of leadership over A Current Affair.

"And Nine has made desperation an art form in television."

Seven's news director Peter Meakin said the bulletin, Seven Early News, which will be fronted by Natalie Barr and sports presenter Mark Beretta, was aimed at catering to the increasing number of viewers starting their day earlier.

"Experience has taught us that our audience decides when they want to watch news and it's our job to oblige them," he said.

"It's no longer acceptable to cram all a day's events into a 30-minute bulletin at 6pm and leave it at that.

"With so many information sources these days, we can't expect our viewers to wait."