freebie subscriptions that are not wanted

No. Why do you think you would be?

Because once upon a time, with Directv, we got HBO for 3 months free and I had to call and cancel it before I got billed for it. 

I've had Directv since back in the 90's. I have a channel package they don't even sell anymore.  I just want to be sure.

That was the new customer intro package that every new customer gets. 3 months premium channels and 1 year NFL Sunday Ticket both renew automatically unless canceled.

DirecTV's intro offer normally includes those premium channels free for 3 months. Similar offers (usually for one or a 2-pack instead of all 4) might be available later when you call customer support or a 3rd party outbound sales. Getting such an offer, it is up to you if you accept or not.

Those offers are not added to the account without speaking with you. It is a bad agent who does so without your permission, but without you they don't have the info to pull up the account in the first place.

Separate from that, DirecTV occasional has a "freewiew" weekend of those channels, or a week of the Xtra package level of programing. This is provided to all customers and is not a roll to cost as is for everyone, not an account specific offer where they hope you like it enough to not remove it.

Your having a package they don't sell anymore (grandfathered), doesn't affect the options of those premium channels. However, in many cases those old packages end up costing you more because some channels are in lower costing packages than they used to be.

As an example, one of the most popular grandfathered packages was Choice Xtra Classic. People kept this for Cloo, Chiller, and SoapNet as newer customers had to be one tier higher (the Ultimate package) to have those channels. Once those channels were shut down by their respective owners (no TV provider has them anymore), then the current equivilent (Xtra) became the better value as was slightly cheaper (plus they weren't blocked from some discounts that weren't authoried on grandfathered packages). And a good many were only in the higher package for those speciality channels to begin with so were able to drop down to Choice saving a bit more.

I would highly suggest reviewing the channels you do watch. If the old package is still the best then great. But if not, then you can find the option that is the better fit.

Hopefully your equipment is not that old as DirecTV has been shutting down their MPEG-2/SD-only channels meaning legacy equipment must be replaced or serivce will be lost.

they do that to us a few times. Once was the Playboy channel. That didn't go over well at the dinner table.

Because of the adult nature of the programming, I do not recall Playboy having a freeview weekend. Any offers for that (few and far between) must be manually selected. If that was added, but not requested/accepted by someone in your household, then most likely a bad agent padding their stats. That or was kicked out of the account, or request occured during system downtime, and when they pulled up the account they mistyped the account number getting the wrong one.

Just my wife and I in the household. Trust me neither of us would even think about ordering that type of programming

I make no judgement or assumption on what programming somone chooses to get or not.

Boils down to agent made an honest misatke (wrong account typed in) or on purpose (to pad their stats for premium upsells). Either way if it happens, you call DirecTV to dispute.

I would also be cautious of any calls you receive. There are 3rd party outbound sales that make offers for the regular premiums (HBO, Starz, etc.) usually a 3 month offer of either free or perhaps a 2for1, which follows the normall roll to cost at the end if you don't call back. It is not unheard of for someone to say no, but gets added anyway. One of the reasons I don't accept offers that called me, and I endevour to not answer calls I don't know or are expecting.