Difference between revisions of "Cento Veljanovski"

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Whilst at IEA, Veljanovski acting as a consultant to a number of media organisations and began to take on executive roles in corporations with interests in the media sector.
 
Whilst at IEA, Veljanovski acting as a consultant to a number of media organisations and began to take on executive roles in corporations with interests in the media sector.
  
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In 1990 it was reported in the ''Guardian'' and ''The Times'' that Veljanovski was being employed as a consultant to the [[BBC]]. <ref>Georgina Henry, 'BBC defends job for Mandelson', ''Guardian'', 3 October 1990; Melinda Wittstock, 'BBC defends Labour choice', ''The Times'', 3 October 1990</ref>
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In 1990 it was reported in the ''Guardian'' and ''The Times'' that Veljanovski was being employed as a consultant to the [[BBC]]. <ref>Georgina Henry, 'BBC defends job for Mandelson', ''Guardian'', 3 October 1990; Melinda Wittstock, 'BBC defends Labour choice', ''The Times'', 3 October 1990</ref> This was despite the fact that Veljanovski was ideologically committed to ending public service broadcasting.
  
 
In 1991 Veljanovski authored a report called 'The Media in Britain Today', published by [[Rupert Murdoch|Rupert Murdoch's]] [[News International]]. The report, which also included a foreword by [[Alan Peacock]] argued that, 'where there are 50 or more television channels, many with small audiences, the fact that a newspaper proprietor has a controlling interest in several satellite channels does not pose a real threat to diversity or to competition'. <ref>cited in Richard Evans, 'Cross-ownership of media 'no threat to competition', The Times, 18 January 1990</ref> ''Marketing'' magazine commented that, 'given that [[News International]] is sponsoring the report, its credibility may prove to be extremely limited in some quarters.' <ref>Michael Kavanagh, 'News International lashes out at critics', ''Marketing'', 18 January 1990</ref> ''The Times'' (also owned by [[Rupert Murdoch|Murdoch]]) commented that: 'Although his views are similar to those advocated by [[News International]] in its campaign to fight off further restrictions on ownership in more than one medium, Dr Veljanovski says he had a free brief when writing the book.' <ref>Richard Evans, 'Cross-ownership of media "no threat to competition"', ''The Times'', 18 January 1990</ref> The newspaper quoted Veljanovski as saying, 'I would not have put my name to anything that did not reflect my views of the industry. I don't think I have come up with conclusions comfortable to anyone.' <ref>Ibid.</ref>
 
In 1991 Veljanovski authored a report called 'The Media in Britain Today', published by [[Rupert Murdoch|Rupert Murdoch's]] [[News International]]. The report, which also included a foreword by [[Alan Peacock]] argued that, 'where there are 50 or more television channels, many with small audiences, the fact that a newspaper proprietor has a controlling interest in several satellite channels does not pose a real threat to diversity or to competition'. <ref>cited in Richard Evans, 'Cross-ownership of media 'no threat to competition', The Times, 18 January 1990</ref> ''Marketing'' magazine commented that, 'given that [[News International]] is sponsoring the report, its credibility may prove to be extremely limited in some quarters.' <ref>Michael Kavanagh, 'News International lashes out at critics', ''Marketing'', 18 January 1990</ref> ''The Times'' (also owned by [[Rupert Murdoch|Murdoch]]) commented that: 'Although his views are similar to those advocated by [[News International]] in its campaign to fight off further restrictions on ownership in more than one medium, Dr Veljanovski says he had a free brief when writing the book.' <ref>Richard Evans, 'Cross-ownership of media "no threat to competition"', ''The Times'', 18 January 1990</ref> The newspaper quoted Veljanovski as saying, 'I would not have put my name to anything that did not reflect my views of the industry. I don't think I have come up with conclusions comfortable to anyone.' <ref>Ibid.</ref>

Revision as of 08:17, 16 October 2009

Cento Veljanovski

Dr Cento Gavril Veljanovski (born 19 February 1953) is a neoliberal economist and business consultant closeley affiliated to the seminal free market think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs as well as the European Policy Forum. He has authored a number of reports arguing for the privitisation and deregulation of the British media, as well as public utilities like gas and telecommunications.

Biography

Veljanovski was born in Australia [1] on 19 February 1953, the son of Gavril Veljanovski and Margaret née Wagenaar. He studied a degree and a masters in economics at Monash University (in 1975 and 1977 respectively[2]) and a PhD at Oxford. [3] He was a junior resident fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford from 1978 to 1984 during which time he was also a visiting professor at the Univiversity of Toronto (1980-1981). In 1984 he joined University College London (UCL) as a lecturer. [4]

Veljanovski was as an advisor to the Peacock Committee, which was set up by the Thatcher government to review the financing of the BBC. [5] The committee, which sat during 1985/6 was chaired by the economist Alan Peacock, who was a Trustee of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Institute of Economic Affairs

In 1987, Veljanovski left UCL to join the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), where he was research and editorial director until 1991. [6] Veljanovski replaced the IEA's first editorial director Arthur Seldon, who was appointed to the post in June 1959.

Whilst at IEA, Veljanovski acting as a consultant to a number of media organisations and began to take on executive roles in corporations with interests in the media sector.

In 1990 it was reported in the Guardian and The Times that Veljanovski was being employed as a consultant to the BBC. [7] This was despite the fact that Veljanovski was ideologically committed to ending public service broadcasting.

In 1991 Veljanovski authored a report called 'The Media in Britain Today', published by Rupert Murdoch's News International. The report, which also included a foreword by Alan Peacock argued that, 'where there are 50 or more television channels, many with small audiences, the fact that a newspaper proprietor has a controlling interest in several satellite channels does not pose a real threat to diversity or to competition'. [8] Marketing magazine commented that, 'given that News International is sponsoring the report, its credibility may prove to be extremely limited in some quarters.' [9] The Times (also owned by Murdoch) commented that: 'Although his views are similar to those advocated by News International in its campaign to fight off further restrictions on ownership in more than one medium, Dr Veljanovski says he had a free brief when writing the book.' [10] The newspaper quoted Veljanovski as saying, 'I would not have put my name to anything that did not reflect my views of the industry. I don't think I have come up with conclusions comfortable to anyone.' [11]

Veljanovski has reportedly worked as a consultant to Foxtel, [12] an Australian pay television company part owned by News International.

Financial consultant

In the 1990s Veljanovski moved into the business world. In 1990 he was reported to be a director of the Putnam, Hayes and Bartlett consultancy. [13] That year he also joined the economic consultancy firm Lexecon in 1990. According to his biography on Debrett's People of Today, he remained with the Institute of Economic Affairs for a year whilst serving as a director of Lexecon. He left Lexecon in 1994. By which time he had joined the board of the cable television programmer Flextech. He was a director of Flextech from 1993 to 1995. [14]

Flextech started life as an oil services company. It first moved into media in 1989 when it purchased a stake in the cable television broadcaster The Children's Channel during a restructuring of the company. Another shareholder in The Children's Channel was the US cable TV company TeleCommunications Inc, which in December 1993 bought a 60 per cent stake in Flextech and put the company in control of UK cable channels. [15] Flextech subsequently entered into a 50 per cent joint venture with BBC Worldwide called UKTV. It was subsequently merged with Telewest and then Virgin Media.

In 1996 Veljanovski founded the 'competition consultancy' Case Associates. That year Veljanovski authored a report for the European Media Forum arguing that Channel 4 should be privitised. According to the Daily Mail, Veljanovski argued in the report that, 'full privatisation of Channel 4 would bring in $3billion, while a sell-off with the stipulation that it must keep its remit to cater for minority interests would still raise $2billion. [16]

Publications

Choice by Cable (1983), Selling the State - Privatisation in Britain (1987), Privatisation and Competition - A Market Prospectus (1989), Freedom in Broadcasting (1989), The Media in Britain Today (1990), Regulators and the Market (1991), Pay TV in Australia (1999), Economic Principles of Law (2006), Economics of Law (2006)

Affiliations

Annabel's, member [17]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ben Cohen & George Stamkoski, 'Market Releases New Energies', Euromoney, December 1992; p.22
  2. ↑ Monash University, 2009 alumni events - Presentation by prominent economist Dr Cento Veljanovski, [Accessed 15 October 2009]
  3. ↑ Debrett's People of Today (Debrett's Peerage Ltd, January 2009) [Accessed via KnowUK on 15 October 2009]
  4. ↑ Debrett's People of Today, Dr Cento Veljanovski [Accessed 15 October 2009]
  5. ↑ Tom O'Malley, Closedown?: The BBC and Government Broadcasting Policy 1979-92 (London: Pluto Press, 1994) p.18
  6. ↑ Debrett's People of Today, Dr Cento Veljanovski [Accessed 15 October 2009]
  7. ↑ Georgina Henry, 'BBC defends job for Mandelson', Guardian, 3 October 1990; Melinda Wittstock, 'BBC defends Labour choice', The Times, 3 October 1990
  8. ↑ cited in Richard Evans, 'Cross-ownership of media 'no threat to competition', The Times, 18 January 1990
  9. ↑ Michael Kavanagh, 'News International lashes out at critics', Marketing, 18 January 1990
  10. ↑ Richard Evans, 'Cross-ownership of media "no threat to competition"', The Times, 18 January 1990
  11. ↑ Ibid.
  12. ↑ Jane Schulze, 'Is Oftel Taking the right approach to bottlenecks?', The Age, 9 July 1999; p.2
  13. ↑ 'Cable forecasts "should be lower"', New Media Markets, 8 November 1990
  14. ↑ Debrett's People of Today, Dr Cento Veljanovski [Accessed 15 October 2009]
  15. ↑ Jeff Ferry, 'Flextech's profitless prosperity', Director, August 1994; p.28
  16. ↑ Sean Poulter, 'Clarke can tune in to £3bn bonus', Daily Mail, 21 November 1996; p.29
  17. ↑ Debrett's People of Today (Debrett's Peerage Ltd, January 2009) [Accessed via KnowUK on 15 October 2009]
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