A set top terminal is disclosed for creating a favorites menu of television programs available for viewing, based on a user's preferences. The terminal receives a television signal from an operations center, extracts individual programs from the signal, and sends one or more of the individual programs to a television for display, based on a selection by the user. The terminal generates an interactive electronic program guide for the selection of programs. The favorites menu of the guide narrows the list of available programs to those most likely of interest to the user. The terminal receives and stores user information, including general demographic information and viewing preference information. The viewing preference information may be received directly from the user, for example by querying the user. Alternatively, it may be learned by tracking the user's viewing habits. The viewing preference information may include, for example, frequently-watched channels, frequently-watched programs, or information related to program content. The user information may be stored in a user profile. Using the user information, the terminal identifies those programs available for viewing that most closely match the user information. A program menu including the identified programs is then generated for display on a television.