New season premieres in January

MTV will begin another search for "America's Best Dance Crew" shortly after the new year.

The third season of the dance competition, which has been a solid performer for the network, is scheduled to premiere Thursday, Jan. 15. Mario Lopez will be back as host, along with judges Lil Mama, J.C. Chasez and Shane Sparks.

The show will keep the same format in the new season, with dance teams competing for audience votes and the judges deciding which of the two lowest-scoring crews gets sent home. The winning crew takes home a $100,000 prize and joins past winners JabbaWockeeZ and SuperCr3w as title holders.

MTV also promises new challenges for the crews, which it promises will make the new season "the most physically demanding season yet."

"America's Best Dance Crew" has brought fairly strong ratings to MTV. The second season averaged a shade under 2 million viewers last summer, with more than 70 percent of those coming from the channel's target demographic of teenagers and young adults.