A receiving device may assign a remote-control device of the receiving device to a special mode by storing an association of an identifier unique to the remote-control device with the particular special mode. The receiving device may receive a command from the remote-control device and determine that there has been a special mode assigned to the remote-control device based on the stored association of the identifier unique to the remote-control device with the particular special mode. The receiving device will then interpret the command received from the remote-control device according to how commands are to be processed in the special mode. The receiving device having the remote-control device assigned to the special mode may cause the receiving device to execute a different command or process than it would have normally performed when receiving such a command from a remote-control device that is not assigned to the special mode.