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U.S. trade policies rattle APAC film and TV industries; Australia stands firm, jury out in China, Korea, India and the rest of the region
While the import and export of physical goods may have been the early focus of U.S. President Donald Trump’s bilateral trade moves, the Asia-Pacific region’s film and TV industries may soon be shaken by the new “America First” policy. There are calls for Asian governments – particularly South Korea – to wind down screen industry development systems. In Australia, there is evidence that the new U.S. regime has already influenced media regulations. – By Patrick Frater ▶ Read the full story here

“Con Mum” in custody in Singapore after Netflix viewer reports; 84-year-old Dionne Marie Hanna faces 20 years in prison on criminal charges if convicted
The woman at the centre of Netflix’s new U.K. documentary, “Con Mum”, will appear before a Singapore judge on 11 April in the next step of criminal proceedings against her on multiple charges of fraud. Dionne Marie Hanna, who represented herself at a State Court appearance on Saturday (5 April), was arrested in Singapore at the end of March after Netflix viewers recognised her and alerted local police. ▶ Read the full story here

Year of Firsts for Indonesian streamer, VISION+; focus on collaborations, co-productions and expanding past horror, content bosses say
In original content terms, 2025 could easily be called Indonesian streaming platform Vision+’s Year of Firsts, including the first collaboration with CreAsia Studio on original drama series “My Chef in Crime”; and “Sugar Daddy”, the first co-production with regional streaming platform Viu. Then there’s comedy-romance, Jay Sukmo’s “Culture Shock”, which was Netflix’s top show in Indonesia for the week of 24 Feb-2 March – and the only local Indonesian title to make #1 on Netflix’s Indonesia weekly top 10 rankings for the year to 30 March. ▶ Read the full story here

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