By now, probably all of you have heard the news about imminent shutdown of ShareTheRemote, a gazelle based specialized TV torrent tracker. STR which launched to the public sometime around November 2009 will soon be closing down its operations permanently. Main reasons for the closure appears to be lack of funding, stagnating torrent uploads and member activity. While all loyal STR members will be saddened by this news, there is a silver lining in the dark cloud in the form of BTN. BTN, ones of the most successful TV trackers to hit the BitTorrent scene in recent months, is offering STR refuges a new home. An online form has now been made available through which ShareTheRemote members cam request for a free BTN invite. With BTN now being one of the best places on the internet to find and download TV shows, this is an excellent opportunity for STR members to make it their new home.

First, the reasons for STRS’s shutdown; following announcement is quoted from their homepage:

it's with great sadness that I write this post, however it's time to officially announce what many have been speculating about for quite some time: SharetheRemote has run its course and will be shutting down around the 16th of January.

While the immediate reason for this shutdown is a lack of funds (Note: Any donations made at this point will not be received until the 15th of February and will not help cover January's server bill), the prevailing reason is the stagnation that the site has faced. Both the torrent and user counts have floated around their current values and new features have came to a grinding halt ever since RC2 was prematurely released. The blame for this goes exclusively to the higher echelons of staff (developers+) - While the talent was certainly there, the activity simply was not. While it's a shame to see a site die due to a lack of organization, it's a harsh reality that we must face.

So what's to become of the torrents, users, and code? That's up to you guys. We currently aren't ruling out the idea of a merger, takeover by a new administration, or user relocation offer. For now, the site will be set to global freeleech until it goes down. Grab as much content as possible and make sure to share it with the world!

At last check (on 6/1/2010), STR tracked 5000 torrents and had an active user base of 7200+ members. You can find more information and screenshots of STR in our recent article located here.

A news item has also been posted on BTN homepage, announcing the partnership with STR:

As many of you know, SharetheRemote (StR) has recently announced it will be closing, leaving many of its members without a home

After long discussions, BTN has decided to accept Refugees from StR, and a system has been put in-place to securely validate these members prior to inviting them to BTN.

On behalf of BTN, I'd like to officially welcome our newest members from StR, and I hope you will all become part of our great community and as we do

//BTN Staff

BTN is a hugely successful ratio free TV tracker with 18000+ members and 22000+ active torrents. The site is known for it’s many advanced features, seedbox hosted torrents, autouploader bots and fast pre times. You can read a full overview of BTN in our recent article located here.

How to apply for a BTN invite

First and foremost, this offer is only valid for Ex-STR members. You can apply for a BTN invite through the electronic form made available in following location:

Invite Application URL: https://broadcasthe.net/str_refuge.php

Provided that you were a good member on STR, you will receive a BTN invite to the E-mail you specify in the form. Good Luck!

Special thanks to AzzA for the heads up.

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