BroadcasTheNet
 | |
Type of site | Private BitTorrent tracker |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Website | broadcasthe.net |
| Registration | Invite-only |
| Users | ~35,000 |
| Launched | 2010 |
| Current status | Active |
| Written in | PHP (Gazelle) |
BroadcasTheNet (commonly abbreviated BTN) is a private, invite-only BitTorrent tracker specializing exclusively in television content.[1] It is considered one of the largest and most prominent private television trackers in the BitTorrent ecosystem.[2]
History
Founding and early growth
BroadcasTheNet was launched in late 2009 or early 2010.[3][4] The current domain broadcasthe.net has been online since December 29, 2010.[4]
By May 2011, just over a year after its launch, BroadcasTheNet had rapidly grown to become one of the most significant private TV trackers.[1] At that time, the site had 23,010 registered users, with approximately one-third active daily.[1] The tracker hosted over 33,391 torrents covering 3,916 unique television series, which had been downloaded a combined 2,780,614 times.[1]
TorrentFreak noted in 2011 that the site had "outgrown other prominent TV-torrent communities like BMTV in number of torrents, registered users and peers."[1] The publication also highlighted the tracker's active community, with forums containing 6,492 threads and 158,817 posts, which "outdo most of the public BitTorrent forums."[1]
2012 DDoS attacks
In November 2012, BroadcasTheNet was among several prominent private trackers targeted in a series of DDoS attacks.[5] The attacks were perpetrated by an individual using the nickname "Zeiko" who had failed to obtain an invite to the music tracker What.cd and subsequently targeted multiple sites including What.cd, BroadcasTheNet, PassThePopcorn, HDBits, IPTorrents, The Vault, and SceneAccess.[5]
2025 DMCA subpoena
In September 2025, an independent filmmaker obtained a DMCA subpoena at a California federal court targeting Cloudflare in an attempt to uncover the identities of people connected to several prominent private torrent trackers, including BroadcasTheNet, PassThePopcorn, HDBits, Karagarga, and Beyond-HD.[2] The subpoena requested Cloudflare to disclose billing information, historical IP address logs, and information related to hosting companies and servers used by these trackers.[2]
Despite early DDoS attempts and other challenges, BroadcasTheNet and similar Gazelle-based trackers have been operational for more than 15 years.[2]
Features
Content
BroadcasTheNet focuses exclusively on television content, distinguishing itself from general-purpose trackers by excluding movies, music, or other media types.[1] The tracker hosts content ranging from current television series to older and rare programming.
Technical platform
BroadcasTheNet runs on the Gazelle codebase, a BitTorrent tracker software that was pioneered by the What.cd team and has been adopted by numerous other private trackers.[2][6]
Membership and ratio system
BroadcasTheNet operates on an invite-only basis, with new users required to be invited by existing members.[1] Unlike many private trackers that use a traditional ratio-based system, BroadcasTheNet is "ratioless," meaning users are not required to maintain a specific upload-to-download ratio.[6] Instead, users must meet minimum seeding time requirements for each torrent.[6]
The tracker uses a bonus point system that allows users to progress through user classes and access additional features.[7]
Cultural significance
BroadcasTheNet has been described alongside PassThePopcorn (for movies) and the defunct What.cd (for music) as part of a group of elite private trackers representing the highest tier of the private BitTorrent tracker community.[5][6] These trackers, along with HDBits, are sometimes collectively referred to as "the cabal" within the private tracker community due to their prominence and the coordination between their staff teams.[6]
The InstallGentoo Wiki describes BroadcasTheNet as the "best of its kind by far" among television trackers, noting that "95% of everyone's needs can be filled with BTN."[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Young TV-Torrent Tracker Breaks Records". TorrentFreak. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Filmmaker Tries to Unmask Private Torrent Tracker Owners through Cloudflare". TorrentFreak. 20 September 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- ↑ "broadcasthenet (@broadcasthenet)". Twitter. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "broadcasthe.net Website Traffic, Keywords, Technology & Competitors". WebsiteIQ. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "DDoS Attacks Take Down What.cd, BTN and More BitTorrent Trackers". TorrentFreak. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "Private trackers". InstallGentoo Wiki. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- ↑ "BroadcasTheNet (BTN), TV Tracker". Torrends.to. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
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