ABC.com Launches 'Dancing Live Chat Party', 9/20

Twelve celebrities and their dance partners will shine on stage and screen as season 11 of "Dancing with the Stars" gets underway. But the bright lights and fun won't stop after the show! ABC.com presents multiple features online for fans to participate in and to enjoy. Available on www.abc.com this dancing season, in addition to full episodes, are exclusive video content, "Dancing Live Chat Party," "Backstage at Dancing with the Stars!" with host Sabrina Bryan, and team shirts designed by the teams. The fun is all at your fingertips at www.abc.com/dancing-with-the-stars.

For the first time ever on "Dancing with the Stars," fans will have the opportunity to chat with one another on the site, as "Dancing Live Chat Party" starts on Monday, September 20 and continues throughout the season every Monday thereafter. The chat will begin live during the east coast feed at 5:00 p.m., PT, and will remain open until the end of the show at 10:00 p.m., PT.

Returning for its third season, "Backstage at Dancing with the Stars!" gives fans the chance to go where no cameras have gone before. Sabrina Bryan, Season 5 alum, returns as the host of this inside and intimate look at the celebrities and the dancers. "Backstage" will run weekly on Wednesday mornings following Tuesday night's "Dancing with the Stars the Results Show." The videos will be available on www.abc.com as well as HULU, Youtube and ABC Mobile. An extended version of this weekly series is also available exclusively on AT&T mobile devices.

Once again, ABC and Caf Press have joined forces to bring fans official swag from the show. This season the dancing pairs put their creative minds together to design Team Shirts. This year, $1 for every "Dancing with the Stars" team t-shirt sold will be donated to Stand Up to Cancer, a grassroots movement raising much-needed funds for groundbreaking cancer research. Team shirts are available now at the ABCOnline Store at www.abctvstore.com.

Hosted by Tom Bergeron ("America's Funniest Home Videos") and Brooke Burke ("Dancing with the Stars" Season 7 Champion), the celebrities perform choreographed dance routines which will be judged by renowned Ballroom judge Len Goodman and dancer/choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.

Viewers may cast their votes for their favorite teams via phone on Monday night during and up to 30 minutes after the "Dancing with the Stars" performance shows. Wireless customers with AT&T may also text message their votes by texting the word "VOTE" to the number that corresponds to the team they want to support (message and data rates may apply). Viewers may also vote online at www.abc.com starting from the opening of each episode on the East Coast, until 8:00 a.m., PT the following day. Fans may cast the maximum limit of votes for each voting method.

"Dancing with the Stars" is the U.S. version of the international smash hit series, "Strictly Come Dancing." This version is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Conrad Green serves as executive producer and Rob Wade is co-executive producer. Alex Rudzinski directs. "Dancing with the Stars" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound.

About BBC Worldwide Productions:

BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and wholly-owned subsidiary of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In the U.S., BBC Worldwide Productions, one of BBC Worldwide's seven core businesses, is based in Los Angeles and New York. It is responsible for the smash hit "Dancing with the Stars" and develops scripted and non-scripted projects for U.S. cable and broadcast networks.

About ABC.com:

ABC.com's Full Episode Player delivers a high-quality viewing experience to users and premium to advertisers, attracting a young, highly educated and loyal audience. Additionally, ABC.com features an embeddable short-form video player that is home to a variety of content, including original webisodes, exclusive sneak peeks and interviews with the stars of ABC's most popular series. ABC.com is available anytime, anywhere on mobile devices at m.abc.com and on the iPad via the popular ABC Player app.