After 16 years and 30 seasons of being broadcast on Disney’s ABC, Dancing with the Stars is moving to Disney+ this upcoming season. Dancing with the Stars will become the first show on Disney+ to be aired live. DWTS has been renewed for both Season 31 and 32.
Get the Mirrorball ready. 🤩 Dancing with the Stars is moving to a new home when it returns this fall as the first LIVE series on #DisneyPlus! #DWTS 💃🕺 pic.twitter.com/CKmfgSgOZF
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) April 8, 2022
Dancing with the Stars is a live show where professional dancers are paired with celebrities to compete for the coveted Mirrorball trophy. Each week couples are given a theme and a dance style to compete with. A popular theme night is the Disney night! Previous winners include: Gold Medal Ice Dancer, Meryl Davis in Season 18, performer Jordan Fisher in Season 25, and last season’s winner Iman Shumpert, a NBA player. JoJo Siwa made Dancing with the Stars history last season by dancing for the first time on the show with a same sex partner.
Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, stated of the move, “Dancing with the Stars has entertained fans for 16 years on ABC, and we are excited to bring this beloved show exclusively to Disney+ as the platform’s first-ever live series. The show’s broad appeal, as well as the overwhelming popularity of its Disney-themed competition nights, make Disney+ the perfect home for ‘Dancing with the Stars’ while continuing to expand our demographic reach.”
No word from ABC what with will fill the DWTS time slot. Variety reports that this move is not a good one for ABC calling it a “serious blow” due to the lack of viewership on broadcast television with many households using streaming services. Variety speculated that this move by Disney could just be the beginning of media companies moving live shows to streaming platforms leaving the broadcast networks with no programming.
Are you a fan of Dancing with the Stars? Are you ready for more live shows on Disney+? Let us know in the comments!
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