Warner Bros. Pay TV (Warning Screen)
1st Warning (197?-Early 2000's)
Warning: On a blue background, we see two white horizontal lines, the bottom one much thicker than the other. Between the lines, in an all-caps futuristic font, is this text:
PRESENTED SOLELY FOR PRIVATE HOME VIEWING
BY PAY TELEVISION SUBSCRIBERS. ALL COPYING,
RECORDING OR OTHER USE OF THIS MOTION PICTURE
WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE
COPYRIGHT PROPRIETOR IS PROHIBITED, AND MAY
RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.
FX/SFX: None, just the warning fading in and out.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Appeared on Warner Bros.-owned films shown on pay cable channels and pay-per-view, the latter almost exclusively by the 1990s, and continued to be used into the 2000s on PPV and VOD prints. Titles known to have used it include Tequila Sunrise, Batman Forever, Sphere and The Hobbit. Surprisingly, it appeared on the 1981 VHS release of The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (right after the "Big W" logo), as well as old Disney Channel prints of of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and The Polar Express. This also makes a surprise appearance at the start of TCM's print of Catalina Caper.
Editor's Note: It's amazing how long this was used, and safe to say that it looked pretty dated by the time the 21st century rolled around.
