diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/appletrailers.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/appletrailers.py
index 87580147d..0c01fa1a1 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/appletrailers.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/appletrailers.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class AppleTrailersIE(InfoExtractor):
             def _clean_json(m):
                 return 'iTunes.playURL(%s);' % m.group(1).replace('\'', '&#39;')
             s = re.sub(self._JSON_RE, _clean_json, s)
-            s = '<html>' + s + u'</html>'
+            s = '<html>%s</html>' % s
             return s
         doc = self._download_xml(playlist_url, movie, transform_source=fix_html)
 
