It's not that mud-slinging has already begun between financial news network CNBC and the just-launched Fox Business Network, but that's not stopping CNBC host Donny Deutsch from taking a hard look at the newest (and well-funded) kid on the block, courtesy of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NYSE: NWS). In a recent interview with Portfolio.com, Deutsch laid out some pickings on the table, from a ruffle with conservative and feather-fluffer Ann Coulter to how he perceives the newer Fox Business Network as a competitor to the network where he already has a show -- CNBC.

Deutsch's words were kind but firm, saying that the management team in charge of production at CNBC is playing its "A game" to this day and does not plan on stopping. Well, no problem -- but the level of thinking that put CNBC where it is now is not the same level of thinking that will keep it there. Roger Ailes and Fox will see to that. Deutsch says that while Murdoch and Ailes "are not dopes," CNBC has an incredible brand and business model.

Umm, so what? That is not a plan on how it's going to compete with a new network with plenty of cash to run a better business model and become an even bigger brand. I'm not saying Fox will trump all, but harping on current success does not guarantee future success. CNBC is great for many of us (myself included), but so far, I've heard very little on competitive strategy that will stave off the Fox Business Network infection. I hope CNBC has formed one, and it's under way.

After reading this teenager language-laced interview, I hope there is more meat behind CNBC's strategy than goofy analogies and references to how great past success was. I am a fan, yes -- CNBC is a daily watch for me on television. But, I also know when to get serious when a new competitor comes to town. And Fox has come to play all nine innings with a very fresh bench.

Rupert Murdoch will continue his march into the conservative forum of anything and everything today as the fresh-off-the-burner Fox Business Channel launches. Now, Murdoch's Fox News has trumped competitors like CNN for quite a time now in the 24/7 cable news arena, but the hardened question is whether that feat can be pulled off again.

Fox Business looks to be geared towards the informed American consumer and investor rather than the professional investing community, which will set it off from existing networks like CNBC. Due to that, Fox Business appears to have been designed to not compete with the jargon-heavy CNBC -- regardless, the two will compete. Throw the Bloomberg TV in the ring and we have a fight, don't we?

The financial decisions and moves the average American makes continues to be muddled by so many differing pictures, so clarifying that arena and getting to the gut of the business news each day will be a highlight of the new channel. Fox News took a while to become the largest cable news network (no pun intended), and Murdoch is placing his bets now on that same scenario happening with the new business network. After having just snapped up Dow Jones, Murdoch looks to become the media titan with no equal. I wonder if he has squash dates with Ted Turner lined up, or perhaps hair-pulling sessions?

Earlier this month, on the heels of General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Networks' decision to pull its shows from Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes store, Douglas McIntyre hypothesized on whether other networks would follow suit. (Meanwhile, NBC Universal and iTunes are reportedly still in talks. NBC Universal is responsible for about 40% of all television content currently available on iTunes).

Late last week, Apple was offered tentative validation of its relationship with News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) FOX Broadcasting Network and FOX Filmed Entertainment movie distribution unit. Reuters reported that Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp., told the U.K.'s Royal Television Society: "We have a pretty limited relationship with Apple and we'll see how it goes ... I assume [future negotiations] will be prickly and dicey and contentious like all negotiations are."

Another report on MacNN.com quoted Chernin as asserting "we're the ones who should determine what the fair price for our product is, not Apple." Some TV shows, currently airing on the FOX Network, have been licensed to iTunes (including Prison Break, 24, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader), but movies have not. And while the network would like a hand in the pricing, it isn't planning on pulling its shows from iTunes anytime soon. According to sources close to the matter, News Corp will not have the opportunity to renegotiate with Apple in the foreseeable future.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.