Sorry about the name. (It's now corrected) I have so many of these I can't keep 'em straight. I just picked up this 50" last week.

I think the intention is to use the reprogramming for secondary components, and a list of competitor's codes is listed in the manual.

It would make sense to make the OEM remotes programmable in case of design changes or bugs discovered during initial production.

I've got a box full of universal remotes and another 3 in use, but I prefer some of the options that come with the OEM's.