DISNEY CHANNEL TO PREMIERE THIRD SEASON OF TOP RATED DANCE SITCOM "SHAKE IT UP" ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14

-- Tyra Banks, Alfonso Ribeiro and Leo Howard to Guest Star --

-- "Make Your Mark: Shake It Up Dance Off" Winner to Perform --

The third season of the dance-driven, buddy comedy "Shake It Up," the #1 live-action TV series in its time period to date among Kids 2-11 and Kids 6-11, will premiere SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel. The new season finds Rocky and CeCe trying to keep their dance careers alive after the "Shake It Up Chicago" set is ruined; and includes guest stars Tyra Banks, reprising her role as the librarian, Alfonso Ribeiro and Disney XD's Leo Howard; and a special performance by the grand-prize winner of "Make Your Mark: Shake It Up Dance Off 2012," Disney's popular talent competition exclusively for kids and tweens.

To date, "Shake It Up" is the #1 series on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. in Kids 2-11, Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14, and this summer's three-part event, "Shake It Up: Made In Japan" (8/17/12), delivered season highs in Total Viewers (5.28 million), Kids 2-11 (3.23 million/7.8 rating), Kids 6-11 (2.75 million/11.2 rating) and Tweens 9-14 (2.46 million/10.2 rating), making it the series' #2 telecast of all time in the target demographics.

Executive produced by Rob Lotterstein ("The War at Home," "Ellen") and Eileen Conn ("Mad About You," "Just Shoot Me!"), "Shake It Up" stars Zendaya and Bella Thorne as Rocky Blue and CeCe Jones, Davis Cleveland as Flynn Jones, Roshon Fegan as Ty Blue, Adam Irigoyen as Deuce Martinez and Caroline Sunshine as Tinka Hessenheffer. Recurring are Anita Barone as Georgia Jones and Ainsley Bailey as Dina Garcia.

New episodes of "Shake It Up" air Sundays at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT on Disney Channel. The series is a production of It's A Laugh Productions, Inc. It carries a TV-G parental guideline.

Disney Channel is a 24-hour kid-driven, family inclusive television network that taps into the world of kids and families through original series and movies. Currently available on basic cable in over 99 million U.S. homes and to millions of other viewers on Disney Channels around the world, Disney Channel is part of the Disney/ABC Television Group.