How do I block Pay per View and premium channels?

Sorry, at this time there is no way to block or prevent add-on, pay-per-view, or premium channels from being added on to your account.

Surely there are child settings of some sort?

Sadly, not yet. 

UNBELIEVABLE! It amazes me how DirecTV could possibly market to homes with young (or any) children. If I had known this sooner, I would probably not have signed up.

There are "parental controls" (and have been for a long time) related to content ratings.  They haven't (yet) either extended those to (or added additional controls for) PPV and account changes. 

Hmm. Those then don't stop kids signing up for any upgrade they want (even if they are blocked from watching it) and picking every PPV movie out there. It reminds me of kids who run up thousands of dollars on Amazon or online games because they don't know what they are doing. At least parents get a "thank you" (HA!) email from DirecTV, but it's too late when it comes to PPV.

I hope DirecTV monitors these conversations.

The PPV capability is new (added within the last few months) and seems somewhat hastily added (for example, it is only available on their own streaming device and seems awkwardly integrated).  For whatever reason they apparently neglected to allow their existing parental controls to restrict access, but it seems that could be added and perhaps will be soon.  (Disclaimer: I have a very old (grandfathered) subscription that seemingly doesn't provide access to PPV content, so I don't know what the "buying" interface looks like or for sure that there are no restrictions possible.)

However, I am unaware of any way to make account changes (package choice, add-ons, etc.) on any of the streaming devices - you need to be using a web browser and be logged into the account, meaning that if your children don't have the account credentials (and in my opinion you should never provide account credentials to children), then they can't make any changes.  (Similarly, you should never provide those credentials to a third-party like a renter - there's a lot of havoc they could cause even without making account changes.)  So unless you are aware of something I'm not, the issue is only PPV.  That is a significant "only", and they should provide a mechanism to restrict those purchases.  (Do note that if the purchased content isn't actually watched, they provide a mechanism to get it deleted and refunded.)

Jrandomuser, I know something you don't. My wife managed to accomplish this with access ONLY to the smart TV. Happily I got them to reverse it.

We received a request to update your DIRECTV STREAM℠ account.

Here’s a breakdown of your services:

Prorated amount paid today [ft] + tax: $4.35 + $0.43

Your monthly payment(s), beginning on Apr 07, 2023, will be $69.99 (plus tax) to reflect these changes.

Seems like you only have two options ....

1. Limit access to your remote control(s)

2. Change providers

@ExpatEs(Edited per community guidelines) - could you indicate the device she used and what the method was?

That's an impressive edit by the forum's nanny filter...

Samsung Smart TV, DirecTV remote, and as to the method --- I wish I knew. SHE doesn't remember doing it. I imagine during channel surfing she spotted a movie she liked, so she clicked on it. Something saying "do you want to add ... to your service" probably came up, and she clicked "yes." My wife has some cognitive issues because of a long-ago stroke.

I am confused about the mention of "DirecTV remote" - the DirecTV remote would control a DirecTV device, not a Samsung TV (well, it could turn it on and off and control the volume, but not other things).  And on all the devices I've used (I've never used the Samsung app since it won't work on my Samsung TV), if you attempt to access content you aren't subscribed for, it directs you to the DirecTV website to subscribe.  It would seem surprising to me (though I guess not impossible) that they would have put something in the Samsung app but not elsewhere that allowed direct connection to subscription changes.

I suppose she may have used the TV remote at some point. But she doesn't have access to the web site, and her technical knowledge is strictly limited.