ANIMAL PLANET RENEWS TWO RECORD-BREAKING SERIES "CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING" AND "PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES"

-- PIT BOSS Scores Best Ratings Ever in Second Season Debut --

It's been a bullish week for Animal Planet's programming with record-breaking performances for series PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES, CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING and PIT BOSS.

Today, the network announces third-season renewals for CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING and PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES. The returning series will roll out third quarter 2011 and fourth quarter 2011, respectively. Season two of PIT BOSS runs through second quarter with additional episodes to roll out this summer.

The January 22 season two finale of PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES - featuring tough-as-nails pit bull rescuer Tia Torres, who gives parolees and pit bulls a new leash on life - delivered more than 1.3M P2+ viewers and is the series' most-watched episode ever across all key demos, including P25-54 (704k), W25-54(399k) and M25-54 (305k). The second season outpaced season one delivery by double digits across all key demos.

CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING, a reality series that takes an unflinchingly honest look at animal hoarding and the families and animals affected by it, pulled its greatest performance ever on January 28 with nearly a million viewers P2+ (946k), P25-54 (469k) and W25-54(338k). In January, episode premieres achieved double-digit gains over its year-ago performance among all key demos.

In its season two debut on January 29, PIT BOSS, starring the loveably loud-mouthed Shorty Rossi, his pups and his crew of little people pit bull rescuers, delivered more than 1M P2+ and was the series' most-watched episode ever across all key demos, including P25-54 (563k), W25-54 (294k) and M25-54 (268k).

PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES is produced for Animal Planet by 44 Blue. Executive producer for 44 Blue is Rasha Drachkovitch, and Lisa Lucas is executive producer for Animal Planet. CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING is produced for Animal Planet by GRB Entertainment. Executive producers for GRB Entertainment are Gary R. Benz, Michael Branton and Dan Jackson, with Dan Partland as consulting producer. Executive producer for Animal Planet is Melinda Toporoff. PIT BOSS is produced for Animal Planet by Intuitive Entertainment. Mechelle Collins and Kevin Dill are executive producers for Intuitive Entertainment. Executive producer for Animal Planet is Erin Wanner.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 97 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.