In a television viewing system, a VCR adapted for use with a source of cable TV, a remotely controllable cable box and a remotely controllable TV receiver provides means to determine all channels tunable by the various tuners, including pay channels. A memory disposed within the VCR stores operative control codes for the cable box and TV. The VCR incorporates switches adapted to interconnect the various components in a variety of configurations. The VCR also incorporates an infrared transmitter operative to transmit control signals to the cable box and TV receiver. Upon receipt of user inputs specifying the desired mode of operation, a controller within the VCR adjusts the switching positions to achieve an optimum configuration for the system components to perform user selections options and transmits remote control codes to the cable box and the TV receiver to place them in condition to enable the user command.