do you have a picture? Also have you recently connected a digital converter or cable/satellite box too it? its dificult to even imagine the problem without seeing it
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We need to see an image of the white lines so we know what they look like before responding. More then likely it is an overscan issue from your DirecTV receiver to your TV. Overscan is simply when the content is being upconverted to a higher resolution with useless results...
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It might be electrical interference or meta-data. Pug your TV into a power strip with a filter. If it is data then make sure the cable box is connected to this TV
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Without a picture of what you're seeing, I'm assuming you're talking about the data lines that might be visible if your television picture is out of adjustment. The while lines at the top of the screen carry data. Line 20 is generally the closed captioning data stream, where your television is getting the words to decode and display on your screen.

Further above that is generally time code data and sync information from the master video file.

A short excerpt from Wikipedia:

Vertical Interval Reference

The standard NTSC video image contains some lines (lines 1–21 of each field) which are not visible (this is known as the Vertical Blanking Interval, or VBI); all are beyond the edge of the viewable image, but only lines 1–9 are used for the vertical-sync and equalizing pulses. The remaining lines were deliberately blanked in the original NTSC specification to provide time for the electron beam in CRT-based screens to return to the top of the display.

If that isn't what you're seeing, but a more constant and bent series of white lines, your television will need service. You can watch for years with it that way, or a component may decide to fail at any time.
Source(s):
Television is what I do for a living, and my dad fixes them.

Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC

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