K.T.C. (Warning Screen)

(Late 1990s-Early 2000s)
Warning: On a black background, we see the following text:

WARNING IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

The program portion of this tape has been coated with a new substance called K.T.C. to prevent illegal copying. K.T.C. only reacts when subjected to the magnetic head fluctuation caused by the record mode. If you have already started to record this tape, we are required by law to inform you that the K.T.C. process may damage your VCR. K.T.C. will not affect your VCR in the play mode. The tape coated with K.T.C. does not begin for another 15 seconds. STOP RECORDING NOW.

Thank you for purchasing this video. Enjoy the show!

After that a second screen appears, consisting of the red word "WARNING" and a countdown starting at 15. When it gets to 1, it cuts to black.

Trivia: The K.T.C. substance on the tape does not exist, as proven in the Oddity Archive episode "Copy Protection Vol. 2".

FX/SFX: The timer counting down on the second screen.

Music/Sounds: A male announcer reads the text, but his voice is sped up to the point where he sounds like John Moschitta Jr. (a.k.a. "The Micro Machines Man" and Blurr from Transformers: The Movie)

Availability: Seen on a Cat Sitter VHS released by Publisher's Choice Video and D.I.N "Do It Now" Inc. It may or may not be on some other tapes. According to this 2004 forum post, it also appears on a DVD version of Cat Sitter, oddly enough.

Legacy: One of the finest examples of fearmongering. Although it says that "K.T.C." is "activated" when one begins recording on a VCR, that makes no sense, because if one were to actually copy the tape onto another with two VCRs, the record mode would only be activated on the VCR dubbing the tape to a blank one, not on the one that is playing the tape. That, and not only would it be very costly to manufacture tapes with this "substance" coated on a single part of the program, it'd also probably result in lawsuits over the distributor knowingly releasing a videotape that purposely destroys a VCR.