Cari Champion and Jemele Hill will host a weekly CNN+ series

ESPN veterans Cari Champion and Jemele Hill worked together on Vice’s Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports, and now they’ll continue that partnership at CNN+.

Cari & Jemele: Speak.Easy. will be part of the CNN+ launch portfolio. CNN’s streaming service (which is coming this spring, though there’s still no date) has added sports programming already, but Champion and Hill certainly seem like a great fit for what the company hopes to do with the platform.

Via the CNN release:

On Cari & Jemele: Speak.Easy., the co-hosts toast and roast the stories that have everyone talking. From the biggest stories in sports, entertainment, politics, and culture, they’ll tell you how they see it. The show will contribute to CNN+’s slate of original, live programming and be available at launch.

“I’m so thrilled to join CNN+. The beauty and authenticity of my friendship with Jemele has always been at the heart of our creative partnership,” said Champion. “I couldn’t be more excited to be part of the CNN family and share our brand of ‘speakeasy’ with the world.”

“I believe the old adage is that if you work with one of your best friends, then you’ll never work a day in your life. While I made that up, there’s a certain magic that happens when Cari and I collaborate together,” Hill said. “The CNN family is a perfect partner for us because they understand our chemistry and appreciate that our boldness is our strength.”

Champion and Hill have both distinguished themselves as vital voices, and there’s no world in which their insight and commentary won’t remain valuable going forward. Whether or not CNN+ succeeds as a venture, it’s hard to imagine this show specifically not delivering on a weekly basis.

As for CNN+ itself, clearly the streamer has an eye on sports-related programming. Considering the corporate relationship with Turner Sports, this makes a lot of sense; it’s not hard to see the synergy involved. It’s not hard to imagine something even more purely sports-based than this landing there eventually.

[CNN, image via YouTube]