A system and methodology provide for automatic generation of thumbnail images of a video stream of images from a television channel. A still frame image of the video stream of the channel is captured. A plurality of content filters is applied to the still frame image to determine whether the image is suitable for display. Images can be filtered for offensive content, defective content, or advertising content. A filtered image that is appropriate for display is selected and stored. If the still frame image is inappropriate for display, a default thumbnail image is selected. The selected image is stored as a thumbnail image in association with EPG data for the television program. The thumbnail image and EPG data are sent for display to a viewer.