Howard Hughes Television Network

 
Before Ted Turner, There Was The Howard Hughes Television Network.
Howard Hughes came to Las Vegas in 1966 and quickly made the Desert Inn his home. When management tried to evict him because they wanted gamblers not renters, of course his solution was to buy the hotel. Thus began Howard Hughes Vegas shopping spree.
 
Hughes being the reclusive type spent most of his time in his room and of course as a former film director he spent much of his time watching old movies. The one problem was Hughes would often fall asleep in the middle of the movie missing the end. Often he would phone up local TV station KLAS and ask them if they could start the movie over again or in the spot he had dozed off. Of course this request was meant with much laughter from the station manager or who ever ended up on the other end of Howards calls. Growing tired of his calls the station manager finally told him jokingly to buy the station.
 
Well, thats just what Howard Hughes went and did. Thousands of people all over Nevada would be watching a late night movie and just when it was about to reach its thrilling conclusion it would flip back to the middle of the movie. People would look at each other and curse damn Hughes fell asleep again.