Havik Group

Havik Group B.V. (doing business as Havik) is an Alliancian multinational television producer based in Nilverhium. The company annually produces more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, running the gamut from 22-minute cooking shows to hour-long prestige dramas. Havik's main competitors in international content production are Banijay, Fremantle and All3Media, which are also based in Eurdecia.

Founded by Rick de Havik and Daniel van Willenburg, the company is responsible for programs like Domino, Challenger, Sink or Swim, POP! Goes The Music, TX, Removing Men, Inspector Silverwood, and A+B.

History
Although founded in 1992, De Havik and Van Willenburg's working relationship began when Van Willenburg - who'd joined TROS at the same time as De Havik - convinced the broadcaster to take a chance on De Havik's idea for a game show entitled Domino. Despite the show being a hit, De Havik was fired in 1991 following an altercation with higher-ups regarding the terms on a contract they'd signed with Hokusei's SBS granting him the rights to create a format derivative of Takeshi's Castle. Van Willenburg left in solidarity soon afterwards, and the two briefly worked at Joop van den Ende's production company before going it alone and setting up Havik Films & Television in 1992.

The company's first few years were rough - the new series created by Van Willenburg, like Snel... maar Goed! met Frankie De Vries and De beste in huis?, all bombed in the rating, and TROS filed a lawsuit claiming the company had stolen formats it had been working on making into series prior to their foundation of the company.

In 1993, A+B - a game show dedicated to video game competitions - debuted on the RTL6 network. It was an immediate rating success, and soon Havik were able to fight the lawsuit - teaming up with SBS, who were unhappy with changes TROS had made to The Million Guilder Challenge between conception of the format and production of the series. The lawsuit drew to a close in 1995, with TROS forfeiting the rights to Domino and The Million Guilder Challenge to Havik. The company celebrated by giving SBS - a decisive partner in helping them to win the case - a 5% stake in the company and carte blanche to adapt Domino in any way they saw fit. SBS later sold their share in 2005.

Havik's first inroads towards global expansion started in 2001, when they purchased leading Latinolian independent producer Cámara Cántara from founder and CEO Donaldo de León. This was soon followed up by the Asikaish multinational HMS the same year, Anglosaw's Blunt Force Productions in 2002, and the Centlands' Centre des Producteurs in 2003. 2002 also marked the year the company started its first international branch - Havik Atlansia, created to produce the Atlansian version of the Challenger format, Crusaders. From there, Havik's international expansion continued.

In 2009, De Havik left the company, citing tiredness after an almost 30-year career in the television industry. He retired to Itainy, where he eventually founded the smaller-scale Fuocofalchi Film with his wife Giana in 2016.

In 2022, the company shut their Brussian branch Havik Kolossal down, citing uncertainty in the country's economic landscape following its military engagement with the Udrenians. The staff at the company soon regrouped, forming Gigantik TV.

Programmes
Havik has many hours of television and film in its library. A few of their most popular television series are:

Divisions
Havik operate in many media landscapes. Chief among those are content production, content distribution, television channels, streaming services, and ad sales.