The BBC, in collaboration with tech company This Place, has developed a way people can select programmes using a cheap, brainwave-reading headset.
The headset works with an experimental version of the BBC's iPlayer on-demand platform.
Users can turn on and operate the app by concentrating or relaxing their minds.
"It's an internal prototype designed to give our programme makers, technologists and other users an idea of how this technology might be used in future," said Cyrus Saihan, head of business development for the BBC's Digital division.
In the first trial, 10 BBC staff tried out the app and were able to launch iPlayer and start viewing a programme via the headset, he said.
"It was much easier for some than it was for others, but they all managed to get it to work," said Mr Saihan.
This type of technology could be used to help people with a broad range of disabilities who cannot use traditional TV remote controls very easily, Mr Saihan believes.
Manipulating electronic devices using brainwaves is becoming more widespread.
For example, in February technology firm Tekever demonstrated how a drone could be remotely controlled using brainpower alone.
The pilot controlled the aircraft wearing a skullcap embedded with electronic sensors that could read his brain activity.
You can watch a video about the iPlayer mind control project here.

Craig Stillwell and Carla Andrews's baby girl Effie was taken away from them for almost eight months.
It has emerged she has a rare medical condition, known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV (EDS), which causes "easy bruising".
The case has been stopped and Effie is home with her parents in Aylesbury.
Mr Stillwell was arrested at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, accused of causing grievous bodily harm after Effie collapsed last August, aged five months.
"The hospital treated us like monsters," he said.
"It was heartbreaking."
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Effie was put in foster care and her parents were permitted to see her just three times a week for 90 minutes at a contact centre.
Buckinghamshire County Council took the case to the family court, seeking to put the little girl into local authority care.
Miss Andrews researched what could have caused bleeding on her daughter's brain and tests revealed she suffered from EDS IV.
The condition is characterised by "thin and translucent skin, easy bruising, vascular and arterial rupture".
The council's application was withdrawn last week and the judge Karen Venables said the family had experienced "unimaginable horror".
Miss Andrews said it was "amazing" to have her daughter back home.
The couple, both 23, said they were not going to take any action against the authorities but wanted to raised awareness of the condition.
Miss Andrews said: "I feel bitter towards the hospital. I know they have to do their job but they should've gone about it differently."
Mr Stillwell added: "We want to get the awareness out there that these connected tissue disorders do exist.
"They may be invisible but they can cause a lot of damage and they do mimic child abuse and shaken baby syndromes."

The victim was killed on Wednesday about a mile from a West Glacier campground.
The authorities say armed police officers are searching for the bear but gave no further details.
Bear attacks are rare in the area with only 10 deaths reported since the park was created in 1910.
The dead cyclist was a 38-year-old officer with the US Forest Service, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry told Daily Inter Lake.com.
Officials say the grizzly confronted two cyclists on a trail after they disturbed it.
The dead rider was taken off his saddle by the bear and the other rode off to get help.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced plans to remove grizzly bears from the threatened species list.
Who, What, Why: What should you do if you encounter a bear?
If you think controlling your TV with your mind is the stuff of science fiction, think again.
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A couple accused of hurting their daughter in a suspected shaken baby case said they had been treated like "monsters".
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A grizzly bear has attacked and killed a cyclist just outside the Glacier National Park in the northern US state of Montana, police say.