Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has thrown his support behind TVNZ 7, sitting in on its final Media7 show days before the station closes down.
TVNZ 7 goes off air on Saturday despite a storm of controversy after the Government decided not to continue funding for what is New Zealand's only non-commercial, public service television station.
Kim Dotcom was arrested after police swooped on his home in January and stands accused of breaching copyright laws costing owners more than $US500 million.
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He is on bail at his luxury Coatesville mansion awaiting extradition hearings.
"It's a shame every time a TV station or any media outlet has to close down because that means less stories that inform people about what's going on," Dotcom told ONE News after watching the taping of Media7 at TVNZ's Auckland studios.
He said he was invited by Media 7 reporter Jose Barbosa to watch the last show and could not decline having earlier seen a Media7 show about his case.
"Well I saw one show that had the topic of what happened to me and Megaupload and cloud storage sites, and I liked it very much. So when I got the invitation I was happy to come."
The topic for Media7's final show is the restructuring of Fairfax and News Limited in Australia with the loss of around 3000 jobs and whether this might be the harbinger of things to come to New Zealand journalism.
"The show tonight was awesome, I mean it was really funny," Dotcom said.
"The topic of course was one where some innovation needs to take place to find ways to pay journalists for their work. But I'm sure some day someone will find a good solution to that."
Media7 started in April 2008 and has since delivered 207 shows covering a wide range of media related topics.
The final programme also shows some of the lighter moments of Media7 and a little of the satire and mirth it has been able to extract on its journey through the media landscape.
Media7's final episode airs on Thursday night at 9.05pm on TVNZ 7.