K-Tel Video

Background : This is the home video distribution of K-Tel Video. It operated offices in the United Kingdom, the USA and Australia. The Australian branch also had a venture with Video Tape Center (including the Filmways VTC joint venture with Filmways Australasian Distributors). The American office is eventually metamorphed into Simitar Entertainment.

1st Logo (1982-1984)
Nicknames : "The Circle K", "Atomic Earth"

Logo : On a space background, we see a shot of the planet Earth. It orbits into drawing atoms, and a red grid flies and lands from the bottom left to the Earth. The K-Tel logo flies in, followed by the text "K-TEL" wipes in, and then we see the word "VIDEO" zooms out below the K-Tel logo, and then, we see the word "PRESENTS" wiping in, all colored orange.

FX/SFX : Everything.

Music/Sounds : None.

Availability : Rare. Was seen on American video tapes like Breakdance: You Can Do It.

2nd Logo (1982-1984)
Nicknames : "The Circle K II", "The K-Tel Marquee"

Logo : On a black background, we see a blue light in the middle, and then we see streaks streaking through the light, forming a curve, which then spins and a crescent shifts to the left side of the curve and an oval shifts to the right side of the curve, forming a circle with two curved lines, reflecting that of a "K". The circle with the K zooms out, and after it zooms out, "K-TEL VIDEO" in the same font for Almi Television, appear next to the circle in a "wipe" effect. After the text appears, lights above and below the name appear, and the lights change throughout, resembling that of a marquee. As this happens, the text sparkles left to right seven times, and a final sparkle right to left.

Variant : On Australian releases, the text "PRESENTS" is shown on the bottom right of the logo

FX/SFX : Everything.

Music/Sounds : A rising synth drone.

Availability : Rare. Seen on the very first VHS release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as Australian releases from the time period, like those in association with Video Tape Center and Filmways VTC.