OTTAWA — Turned aside by the CRTC, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada is now looking to the courts over Canwest’s decision to centralize the production of local news in four cities.

The CEP on Tuesday announced it has filed an application for leave to appeal the regulator’s decision to not examine Canwest’s restructuring, which the media union claims contravenes the broadcaster’s terms of licence.

‘By failing to inquire into the nature and consequences of central casting’ — the new system through which local news is produced and transmitted from one of these centers — ‘we believe the CRTC is in breach of its duty to supervise and enforce Canada’s broadcasting legislation,’ said CEP VP of media Peter Murdoch.

In a Nov. 9 letter to the CRTC, Murdoch asked for a public hearing into the matter.

‘If central casting becomes the norm because of the savings it brings broadcasters, Canadians will be left with a very different broadcasting system, one without truly local newscasts,’ he said in a statement Tuesday.

The CRTC responded in February, telling the CEP that Canwest had complied with its licence conditions from 2006 to August 2007. The regulator noted it could, if necessary, examine the matter at Canwest’s next licence renewal hearings, likely sometime in 2009.

But Murdoch tells Playback Daily that time is of the essence, and that’s why the union has turned to the courts.

‘By the time hearings begin on Canwest’s licence renewal, the broadcast centers will likely all be operational, and it will be too late to change things. Now is the time to consider this issue,’ he notes.

Canwest announced in October that it is investing $30 million in state-of-the-art broadcast centers in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto. The restructuring will result in 200 job cuts at Canwest’s local TV stations and a total of 50 new jobs at the new broadcast centers.

The broadcaster also said it is developing a broadband network through which the local TV stations could share content.

No one at the CRTC could be reached for comment at press time. Canwest has said that it will continue to deliver local news and that, under the new system, staff in each market will continue to turn out content.

The CEP has also said it would appeal the CRTC’s approval of Canwest’s acquisition of Alliance Atlantis, but Murdoch says the union won’t pursue legal action on that front.