diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 04f664cd3..f2909e8d6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -529,6 +529,10 @@ YouTube requires an additional signature since September 2012 which is not suppo
 
 In February 2015, the new YouTube player contained a character sequence in a string that was misinterpreted by old versions of youtube-dl. See [above](#how-do-i-update-youtube-dl) for how to update youtube-dl.
 
+### HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests or 402: Payment Required
+
+These two error codes indicate that the service is blocking your IP address because of overuse. Contact the service and ask them to unblock your IP address, or - if you have acquired a whitelisted IP address already - use the [`--proxy` or `--network-address` options](#network-options) to select another IP address.
+
 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
 
 The error
diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index a15d03358..4a92eb66e 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 import collections
+import contextlib
 import datetime
 import errno
+import fileinput
 import io
 import itertools
 import json
@@ -1481,8 +1483,11 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         return self._download_retcode
 
     def download_with_info_file(self, info_filename):
-        with io.open(info_filename, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-            info = json.load(f)
+        with contextlib.closing(fileinput.FileInput(
+                [info_filename], mode='r',
+                openhook=fileinput.hook_encoded('utf-8'))) as f:
+            # FileInput doesn't have a read method, we can't call json.load
+            info = json.loads('\n'.join(f))
         try:
             self.process_ie_result(info, download=True)
         except DownloadError:
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/vk.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/vk.py
index 7dea8c59d..842263f34 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/vk.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/vk.py
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ class VKIE(InfoExtractor):
         if not video_id:
             video_id = '%s_%s' % (mobj.group('oid'), mobj.group('id'))
 
-        info_url = 'http://vk.com/al_video.php?act=show&al=1&video=%s' % video_id
+        info_url = 'http://vk.com/al_video.php?act=show&al=1&module=video&video=%s' % video_id
         info_page = self._download_webpage(info_url, video_id)
 
         ERRORS = {
@@ -152,7 +152,10 @@ class VKIE(InfoExtractor):
             'use --username and --password options to provide account credentials.',
 
             r'<!>Unknown error':
-            'Video %s does not exist.'
+            'Video %s does not exist.',
+
+            r'<!>Видео временно недоступно':
+            'Video %s is temporarily unavailable.',
         }
 
         for error_re, error_msg in ERRORS.items():