5 Daily Tech Stories that Filmmakers (and Film Fans) Must Read: Illegal ‘Breaking Bad’ Downloads, DirecTV Goes Indie, Free ‘Homeland’ and More

1. Breaking Bad: The season finale of “Breaking Bad” last night got record ratings for the drama (with 10.3 million viewers overall), but the show also had a record number of illegal downloads, according to TorrentFreak.com. “Data gathered by TorrentFreak shows that 12 hours after the first copy
of the episode appeared online, more than half a million people has
grabbed a copy through one of many torrent sites. Never before have so
many people downloaded a Breaking Bad episode, making it a strong
contender for a top spot in our most-pirated TV-shows of the year chart,” wrote Ernesto at TorrentFreak. 

2. Homeland: In case you were too busy watching the “Breaking Bad” finale that you missed the third season premiere of “Homeland,” Showtime has made the episode available for free online. Watch it here.

3. DirecTV: There’s a new player in the independent film business, DirecTV. The
satellite operator has partnered with independent film studio A24 to
acquire films, which A24 will release theatrically. DirecTV will get the
rights to offer the films on-demand 30 days before their theatrical
release, the Wall Street Journal reported. Read the full story here.

4. Indies go 3-D: 3-D is no longer just for big-budget action films, nature documentaries and kids’ movies. Today’s 3-D boom is less about the “coming at you” gimmicks of
yesteryear and more about creating an immersive experience for the
audience. A new generation of indie directors is experimenting with 3-D. Read all about it here.

5. Indies in iTunes: Each Monday we report on the top 10 indies in iTunes (combining rentals and purchases). This week “The Kings of Summer” and “The Bling Ring” topped the list. See the full list here.