The correct answer to this mystery isn't so strange really. My dad was chosen in our village to participate in a scheme wherebye a company installed another little digi type box alongside his television. it recorded the channels he watched, made a record of same and was transmitted back to base through a modem in the box in the early hours of the morning. The guy who fitted it said there are at least one of these for every 1000 people watching television so your next door neigbour could be one. it is totally automated, you do absolutely nothing whatever, no special remotes, nothing, but once every 3 months you get a nice little voucher to spend at a selection of shops, I seem to remember that it was around �30.00 or so. The company that installed it works for all the channels so is impartial. He worked for the Broadcasting Standards or some such. Hope this answers your mystery