diff --git a/includes/MediaInternetYouTubeHandler.inc b/includes/MediaInternetYouTubeHandler.inc
index 8737938..4a77d54 100644
--- a/includes/MediaInternetYouTubeHandler.inc
+++ b/includes/MediaInternetYouTubeHandler.inc
@@ -65,7 +65,16 @@ class MediaInternetYouTubeHandler extends MediaInternetBaseHandler {
     $rss_url = url('http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/' . $video_id, array('query' => array('v' => '2')));
     // @todo Use media_retrieve_xml() once it's upgraded to include elements
     //   from all namespaces, not just the document default namespace.
-    $entry = simplexml_load_file($rss_url);
+    $request = drupal_http_request($rss_url);
+    if (!isset($request->error)) {
+      $entry = simplexml_load_string($request->data);
+    }
+    else {
+      throw new Exception("Error Processing Request: '{$request->error}' (code:'{$response->code}'");
+      return;
+      //if request wasn't successful, create object for return to avoid errors
+      $entry = new SimpleXMLElement();
+    }
     return $entry;
   }
 
@@ -85,5 +94,9 @@ class MediaInternetYouTubeHandler extends MediaInternetBaseHandler {
     if (!isset($response->error)) {
       return drupal_json_decode($response->data);
     }
+    else {
+			throw new Exception("Error Processing Request. Error message: '{$response->error}' (code:'{$response->code}')");
+		  return;
+    }
   }
 }