Ed Richards: Ofcom needs new powers Delivering a keynote speech at the annual Oxford Media Convention, Richards said it was no longer possible to control what content people were watching at a particular time in the digital age. where video-on-demand streams dominate. However, he did say, citing some new Ofcom research, that people were still most concerned about protecting children from inappropriate content and wanted more regulatory protection to ensure this as connected TVs begin to become the norm in the living room. Richards also used his speech to voice his opinion about the idea that Ofcom's remit should be extended to regulate the press, post the Leveson inquiry and the notion of digital media regulation across TV and newspapers. "For the avoidance of doubt, we do not think that Ofcom should regulate the press," Richards said. Over time, and quite quickly in some cases, the difference between 'video on demand' content and that of increasingly video-rich digital 'newspapers' may well diminish. We might be able to offer some assistance from what we have found to be necessary for regulation to be effective. He said he still thinks there should be more than one media regulator in the digital age, but that in future there will be more areas in common. He said this could allow for a simpler and over-arching regulatory framework, covering issues such as privacy and accuracy.