diff --git a/NzbDrone.Core.Test/XbmcProviderTest.cs b/NzbDrone.Core.Test/XbmcProviderTest.cs
index 579a24b66..5b92c7247 100644
--- a/NzbDrone.Core.Test/XbmcProviderTest.cs
+++ b/NzbDrone.Core.Test/XbmcProviderTest.cs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.Test
     public class XbmcProviderTest : TestBase
     {
         [Test]
-        public void JsonEror_true()
+        public void JsonError_true()
         {
             //Setup
             var mocker = new AutoMoqer();
@@ -36,7 +36,21 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.Test
         }
 
         [Test]
-        public void JsonEror_false()
+        public void JsonError_true_empty_response()
+        {
+            //Setup
+            var mocker = new AutoMoqer();
+            var response = String.Empty;
+
+            //Act
+            var result = mocker.Resolve<XbmcProvider>().CheckForJsonError(response);
+
+            //Assert
+            Assert.AreEqual(true, result);
+        }
+
+        [Test]
+        public void JsonError_false()
         {
             //Setup
             var mocker = new AutoMoqer();
diff --git a/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/Core/HttpProvider.cs b/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/Core/HttpProvider.cs
index 2789077f7..d9ae3d5f5 100644
--- a/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/Core/HttpProvider.cs
+++ b/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/Core/HttpProvider.cs
@@ -74,24 +74,31 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.Providers.Core
 
             byte[] byteArray = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(command);
 
-            var request = WebRequest.Create(address);
+            var request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(address);
             request.Method = "POST";
             request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(username, password);
-            request.ContentLength = byteArray.Length;
-            request.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
-            var dataStream = request.GetRequestStream();
-            dataStream.Write(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length);
-            dataStream.Close();
+            request.ContentType = "application/json";
+            request.Timeout = 2000;
+            request.KeepAlive = false;
 
-            var response = request.GetResponse();
-            dataStream = response.GetResponseStream();
-            var reader = new StreamReader(dataStream);
-            // Read the content.
-            string responseFromServer = reader.ReadToEnd();
+            //Used to hold the JSON response
+            string responseFromServer;
 
-            reader.Close();
-            dataStream.Close();
-            response.Close();
+            using (var requestStream = request.GetRequestStream())
+            {
+                requestStream.Write(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length);
+
+                using (var response = request.GetResponse())
+                {
+                    using (var responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
+                    {
+                        using (var reader = new StreamReader(responseStream))
+                        {
+                            responseFromServer = reader.ReadToEnd();
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
 
             return responseFromServer.Replace("&nbsp;", " ");
         }
diff --git a/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/XbmcProvider.cs b/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/XbmcProvider.cs
index 6f05b1b27..cc1b1a444 100644
--- a/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/XbmcProvider.cs
+++ b/NzbDrone.Core/Providers/XbmcProvider.cs
@@ -300,6 +300,12 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.Providers
                 return true;
             }
 
+            if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(response))
+            {
+                Logger.Debug("Invalid response from XBMC, the response is not valid JSON");
+                return true;
+            }
+
             return false;
         }