‘Dancing With the Stars’ Heading to Disney+ To Become Streamer’s First Live Series

From watching Jerry Springer do the Tango to JoJo Siwa’s Fox Trot, Dancing With The Stars has been running for 16 years, and 30 seasons — and has no plans of stopping. This iconic live show has been picked up for another two seasons (Seasons 31 and 32), but with a big twist: instead of airing on ABC, the show will move to Disney+ to become the streaming service’s first ever live series.

“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,” Kareem Daniel, chairman, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution said via a press release provided to Decider. “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.”

Since its premiere in 2005, Dancing With The Stars has been a staple of ABC. ABC notes that they plan to use the NFL’s Monday Night Football to occupy Dancing With The Stars’s 8-10 pm fall slot. While this switch is unprecedented for the Disney owned companies, moving to Disney+ does time out nicely with the service’s move to add a cheaper, ad-supported tier in the Fall, as well as an increase in the amount of content coming to the streamer.

“Dancing with the Stars has been a beloved staple on ABC for 30 seasons and brought so much joy to millions of viewers,” Dana Walden, Chairman of Entertainment, Walt Disney Television noted. “As we’re significantly expanding our unscripted slate at ABC, this is a great opportunity to introduce this show to a whole new generation of fans on Disney+. We’re so grateful to our incredible partners at BBC Studios and look forward to continuing our relationship with them on this spectacular series, which will continue to be overseen by Rob Mills and the talented Walt Disney Television Alternative team.”

Added Valerie Bruce, General Manager, BBC Studios, Los Angeles Productions, “The fact that our iconic global format Dancing with the Stars will now set the record as the first live series on Disney+ represents a major growth opportunity and a bold next step forward in the evolution of the franchise. This unprecedented move, combined with our two-season pick-up, is a testament to the proven power of Dancing with the Stars and a resounding vote of confidence from our great, supportive partners at Disney, showing how much they value and believe in the brand.”

All corporate-speak aside, this is a pretty big deal not just in terms of taking a venerable — and still popular — franchise and moving it from broadcast to streaming. It also signals a break from the rhythm of new original series on Wednesdays, new movies on Fridays that has dominated the Disney+ schedule for the past year (previously, all major content dropped on Fridays).

At the current time there’s no word when Dancing with the Stars will air live, but chances are it will occupy an 8pm ET slot as before. Will it change the game? Or prove to be a costly experiment? As they say on Dancing with the Stars: I guess we’ll see! They don’t actually say that on Dancing with the Stars.

Where to watch Dancing With The Stars