Amazon heads for 5-day high

Usually notable for being one of the less volatile stocks within New York's 'big tech' arena, Amazon has been displaying a degree of interesting movements over the past few weeks.

This week is no exception and currently the NASDAQ-listed internet giant is trading at $2,302.93 per share, putting it at its highest point in five days having risen by 6.2% over that period.

At close of business yesterday, the share price had risen by 3.66% during the course of yesterday's trading day on the New York session.

As spring begins to give way to summer, the season's sports agenda is becoming of great interest, and people across Europe are beginning to look forward to the blue skies and sun shining on the neatly cut grass of the tennis courts.

The French Open and 'The Championships, Wimbledon' are two prestigious events in which global tennis stars pit themselves against each other in front of a worldwide audience.

Sponsorship is at a premium and television rights are extremely important to major channels and broadcasting companies.

This year, the French Open is about to feature a new televised session, that being full broadcast coverage of the night time matches, and it is Amazon that got the deal two years ago.

Amazon Prime Video completed the contract with the French Tennis Federation, giving Amazon Prime Video exclusive rights to air 10 nighttime matches at the French Open which is a brand new feature of the tournament, thanks to an extensive $400-million upgrade to the court venue, with a retractable roof and state-of-the-art lighting on center court.

This constitutes a purchase by Amazon's broadcast media division of some of the biggest time slots during the most-viewed sessions because during the day, more people are at work, therefore the viewing figures for the night time slots are likely to be higher, and has been a bone of contention for some of the players.

It's the exclusivity that is the main issue, in that Amazon's 2020 contract gives it exclusive broadcasting rights and one of the most audience-attracting matches between French superstar Rafal Nadal against top-seeded player Novak Djokovic is scheduled for Tuesday night, rather than during the daytime.

Given that many players prefer the matches to be in the daytime, this is a clear indication that the audience which Amazon Prime Video can bring really matters to sponsors and to the French Tennis Federation.

However, Amazon has actually conceded and has agreed to drop its exclusivity for the night, allowing anyone in France to watch the match. This high profile wrangle demonstrates how valuable these exclusivity rights for such a premier sports match are to Amazon and the sponsors of the tennis match and its players.

Whether it is connected to Amazon's five-day high is not necessarily something that can be proven, but there could be a correlation.