Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
“Hughes was an insomniac and a movie buff. Unfortunately for him, late night programming was very limited. He wanted to have more options available for what to watch during his sleepless nights. And, with his not inconsiderable resources, he managed to find a solution. He ended up buying a TV station, KLAS, in 1967 for the price of $3.6 million dollars, which would come out to just under $34 million dollars today adjusting for inflation. Now in control of his own private TV station, he could ensure movies would be broadcast at all hours. … Hughes was a wealthy man. But at the same time, he had to spend what in todays money would be tens of millions of dollars in order to get a service that was vastly inferior to what anyone with a Netflix subscription has available to them today.” (09/19/24)