April date for Dotcom extradition hearing

Kim Dotcom's extradition hearing won't go ahead later this month as tentatively scheduled but in April next year.

North Shore District Court staff have confirmed the extradition hearing, due to start on November 21, would now be held in April next year.

It has also been shifted to Auckland District Court.

The hearing - which has been delayed several times - is expected to take several weeks.

Dotcom and his co-accused were arrested in January, 2012 but the case against him has been bogged down by legal argument after it was revealed police botched the raid's search warrant and New Zealand's spy agency the GCSB illegally spied on Dotcom, a German who had become resident in New Zealand.

The US is trying to extradite Dotcom, Finn Batato, Bram van der Kolk and Mathias Ortmann over allegations their Megaupload website netted more than $US175 million ($NZ210.3m) in criminal proceeds.

The US says it cost Hollywood's copyright owners more than $US500m by offering pirated copies of movies and television shows.

Megaupload was shut down after the raid but Dotcom has since launched a similar site called Mega, which doesn't use US-based servers.

Dotcom denies the charges and says he is a political target for Hollywood.

NZN