I see. I didn't see in the original post that it was only happening on one channel. I do see that you mentioned HBO in the subject, so I guess that was the inference.
In that case, it's definitely...
The TV!
;)
In all seriousness you've got a doozy. However, from all the described symptoms, its the TV in combination with something being sent from DirecTV; most likely something relating to Premium channels or HBO specifically. Basic troubleshooting states change DirecTV or change the TV. Since I have no further technical insight in this regard, I will leave it to others.
I feel for you though.
Scientific method refers to the body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.
