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United Future leader Peter Dunne - Source: Getty -
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United Future leader Peter Dunne says he intends to save TVNZ 7 after securing funding guarantees as part of a coalition agreement with the National party.
Dunne signed a confidence and supply agreement with National yesterday, and part of his deal was to maintain the current levels of funding for TVNZ and Radio New Zealand for their public broadcasting duties.
"I've got a very strong belief in public broadcasting," he said.
"I think Radio New Zealand and TVNZ 7 are good reflections of good public broadcasting in New Zealand and need to be preserved."
The channel is due to go off air next June and there has been recent speculation its broadcast frequency could be sold on to a shopping network.
Dunne told ONE News he plans to go directly to the TVNZ board to see if it will change its mind on the channel's future.
"I would have preferred to have got a much more explicit agreement regarding the future of TVNZ 7 but the National Party wouldn't go there," he said.
"TVNZ keeps saying it needs to run as a commercial body, and it obviously makes its own decisions, but I think it needs to recognise there is a significant chunk of the population that prefers the approach TVNZ 7 takes and would be very disappointed if that channel was to close."
An online petition to save the channel has so far received more than 4500 responses.
