How many of those bands are on the non-DB9 end (the minijack)? I have no idea what to call them, but with a normal audio minijack cable, they're the things that easily indicate whether it's stereo or mono.

I can really only give you answers relating to what I have. Off the top of my head, I know I have two similar cables. One is a cable so Tivo can control another box over serial. Of course, very few SAT boxes I've seen actually have a DB9 port. At one point I had the need for such a box, and could only find the type that had serial over some sort of RJ11 port. If you've got a standalone Tivo, this is what I'd guess the cable is for.

The other one I have is even less likely, and is the data cable for my early version of the Philips Pronto.

The Tivo cable has, I believe, one band on the minijack end. The Pronto cable, on the other hand, has three bands.