You’re sitting on your couch in Denver or Salt Lake City, the snacks are ready, and you’re scrolling through Twitter—only to see that someone has already been eliminated. It’s the classic Rocky Mountain struggle. Watching Dancing with the Stars Mountain Time has historically been a bit of a headache because of how networks handle time zones. While the East Coast gets the glitz and glamour live at 8:00 PM ET, and the West Coast often deals with a tape delay, those in the Mountain Time Zone are frequently caught in a weird broadcast limbo.
It’s annoying.
Honestly, the way Disney+ and ABC have shifted their streaming strategy has changed the game, but it hasn’t totally fixed the "spoiler" problem for everyone. If you’re trying to vote for your favorite couple, those minutes matter. You can't exactly wait until the local news starts to decide if the Paso Doble was worth a ten.
The Streaming Shift and Your TV Schedule
For years, if you wanted to catch Dancing with the Stars Mountain Time, you were at the mercy of your local ABC affiliate. If they decided to push the show back to 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM local time, you were essentially watching a recording while the rest of the country was already voting. But when the show made the jump to Disney+ (and later returned to ABC while maintaining the live stream), the "Live" part of "Live TV" actually started to mean something for people in the Rockies.
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Because Disney+ broadcasts globally at a single moment, the show technically "starts" at 6:00 PM MT.
That’s early. If you’re commuting home from work in a place like Boise or Albuquerque, you might miss the first two dances if you’re relying on the stream. However, if you’re watching on traditional cable or via an antenna, your local station might still be airing "World News Tonight" or "Wheel of Fortune." This creates a massive split in the viewing experience. You’ve got half the audience watching the live scores on their phones and the other half waiting for the sparkly costumes to appear on their television screens an hour later.
Why the 6:00 PM Start Time Matters
- The Voting Window: This is the big one. Voting usually opens at the start of the East Coast broadcast (8:00 PM ET) and closes right after the final dance. If you’re in the Mountain Time Zone, that means your window to vote is roughly between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM.
- The Spoiler Effect: Social media doesn't care about your time zone. By 7:30 PM MT, the results are already trending.
- The Disney+ Hack: If your local ABC station delays the show, logging into Disney+ is the only way to see it truly "live" with the rest of the country.
Local ABC Affiliates vs. The National Feed
Not every city in the Mountain Time Zone treats the ballroom the same way. In some markets, like Phoenix (which doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time, making things even more chaotic depending on the month), the schedule shifts twice a year.
It’s a mess, really.
Local stations have a lot of power over their "prime time" block. Most ABC affiliates in the Mountain Time Zone prefer to start their prime time at 7:00 PM. This means they are effectively airing the show on a one-hour delay from the live East Coast feed. While a one-hour delay doesn't seem like a tragedy, it puts you right at the edge of the voting deadline. If the show ends at 9:00 PM local time for you, but the voting closed at 8:00 PM local time (10:00 PM ET), you are essentially watching a show where you can no longer influence the outcome.
It feels a bit like yelling at a football game that ended twenty minutes ago. You’re invested, but your input is irrelevant.
How to Vote Without Getting Spoiled
The trick to mastering Dancing with the Stars Mountain Time is to embrace the "blind vote" or the "early stream." If you can't get to a screen by 6:00 PM, you can still text your votes in. Most hardcore fans in Colorado and Wyoming have the text codes saved in their phones from the previous week.
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Since the voting is based on the previous week's performance combined with the current night's scores, many people just fire off their texts as soon as the window opens at 6:00 PM MT.
Does it take some of the fun out of it? Maybe. But it ensures your favorite pro—whether it’s Emma Slater or Alan Bersten—doesn't end up in the bottom two because their fans were stuck in traffic on I-25.
Real Talk on Regional Broadcasts
I've talked to viewers in El Paso who get the Central Time feed and viewers in Montana who are stuck with the delayed Mountain feed. The experience is night and day. The Central Time folks are synchronized with the East Coast; they see it at 7:00 PM CT. But the Mountain Time viewers are the middle children of the television world. You’re not quite "Live" like the East, and you’re not quite "Late Night" like the West.
You’re just... there.
The Technical Reality of Live TV
The logistics of broadcasting a live competition across four major time zones are staggering. Producers at ABC have to coordinate the live vote counting in real-time. When Alfonso Ribeiro or Julianne Hough announce that the "vote is closed," a team in a control room—likely in Los Angeles or New York—is hitting a literal or metaphorical kill switch on the SMS and web servers.
They aren't waiting for the local broadcast in Salt Lake City to catch up.
This is why the "live" aspect of Dancing with the Stars Mountain Time is so reliant on the Disney+ platform. The app doesn't care about local affiliate agreements. It just pushes the data. If you have a decent internet connection, you are seeing the same beads of sweat on the dancers at the exact same millisecond as someone in Times Square.
But if you’re using an old-school antenna? You’re in for a wait.
A Quick Check for Your Area
- Check your local listings: Look for ABC at 7:00 PM MT. If it’s there, you’re on a delay.
- Open Disney+: Check the "Live & Upcoming" section at 6:00 PM MT.
- The SMS Factor: Text the contestant's name to 21523. This works regardless of what’s on your screen, provided the East Coast window is open.
The Future of Time-Zoned Viewing
We are moving toward a world where the concept of a "Mountain Time broadcast" is becoming obsolete. As more viewers migrate to streaming, the "national live event" model is taking over. We saw this with the NFL move to Amazon and various live specials on Netflix. For Dancing with the Stars, the double-header of ABC and Disney+ is a transitional phase.
Eventually, the local delay will likely vanish in favor of a synchronized national start time across all platforms. Until then, those in the Mountain Time Zone have to be a little more savvy. You have to be the person who checks their watch, knows the conversion to Eastern Time (add two hours), and stays off Instagram if you don't want to know who went home before the first commercial break on your local channel.
It’s a bit of a workout just to watch a rumba. But for the fans who have been following the show for over thirty seasons, it’s just part of the ritual. You learn to adapt. You learn to vote early. And you definitely learn to ignore the "Breaking News" alerts on your phone that might reveal the mirrorball trophy winner prematurely.
Actionable Steps for Mountain Time Viewers
To get the most out of your viewing experience without the frustration of missed votes or spoilers, follow this specific routine.
First, sync your devices. Ensure you have the Disney+ app installed even if you prefer watching on ABC; it is your backup for the true live feed. Second, set a "Voting Alarm" for 6:00 PM MT. This is when the window opens. Even if you aren't watching yet, you can cast your 10 votes per couple via the ABC website or SMS to ensure your favorites stay safe.
Third, if you are watching on a one-hour local delay at 7:00 PM MT, turn off your social media notifications. The show moves fast, and the elimination happens in the final minutes of the East Coast broadcast, which aligns with the end of your first hour of viewing. Finally, if you're in Arizona, double-check if your area is currently aligned with Pacific or Mountain time, as this fluctuates and can shift your viewing window by a full sixty minutes without warning. Managing the schedule this way turns a chaotic broadcast into a seamless evening of entertainment.
Next Steps:
- Check your local ABC affiliate's schedule for the next Tuesday night to see if they are airing the show at 7:00 PM MT.
- Sign in to your Disney+ account around 5:55 PM MT to verify the live stream "Join" button is active.
- Save the short code 21523 in your contacts under "DWTS Vote" so you don't have to look it up during the live show.