By Claire Atkinson -- Broadcasting & Cable

A group of cable operators will launch an on-demand politics channel in a bid to tap the euphoria surrounding the inauguration of the first African-American president—and they aim to start Jan. 20, the day Barack Obama is sworn into office.

The service is aimed at viewers eager for political information on the national and local fronts. For the operators, it's a chance to prolong the flow of political dollars to local cable in what is expected to be an active year for issue advertising.

TNS Media Intelligence estimates that local cable, print and radio took in between $200 million and $400 million during the election cycle.

The politics channel is an evolution of the one-year-old service Elections '08, which was shuttered after the general election ended in November. The channel is backed by Comcast Corp., Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems Corp., Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Insight Communications. With the exception of Insight, the parties are also owners of Canoe Ventures, a new joint-venture ad platform.

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