diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 8f782d58..04e82b8d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 * Fix Coming Episodes/Layout Calender/View Paused and tweak its UI text
 * Made all init scripts executable
 * Fix invalid responses when using sickbeard.searchtvdb api command
+* Fixes unicode issues during searches on newznab providers when rid mapping occur
 
 [develop changelog]
 * Change improve display of progress bars in the Downloads columns of the show list page
diff --git a/lib/tvrage_api/tvrage_api.py b/lib/tvrage_api/tvrage_api.py
index adaded13..cfde4081 100644
--- a/lib/tvrage_api/tvrage_api.py
+++ b/lib/tvrage_api/tvrage_api.py
@@ -664,7 +664,7 @@ class TVRage:
                 self._getShowData(key, True)
             return self.shows[key]
 
-        key = str(key).lower()
+        key = key.lower()
         self.config['searchterm'] = key
         selected_series = self._getSeries(key)
         if isinstance(selected_series, dict):