A shutter control mechanism for 3-D glasses includes a control circuit (28) associated with the glasses, the glasses having 3-D lenses (20) and (22). The control circuitry (28) receives commands from a control transmitter (16) in the form of synchronization pulses and command signals. The command signals are operable to vary the operating parameters of the lenses (20) and (22). Specifically, the duty cycle of the left lens (22) and the right lens (20) are varied such that they can either be at a fifty percent duty cycle, greater than a fifty percent duty cycle or less than a fifty percent duty cycle, wherein the amount of time that each of the lenses is on can be controlled for a given frame length. The command signals are also operable to provide demultiplexing of a plurality of multiplexed program channels. Specifically, the duty cycle of each shutter control frame is subdivided into transmissive left and right intervals corresponding to each program channel. Selection of a channel by the user selects one pair of a plurality of left-right shutter intervals.