diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index 233286de8..bdd637e48 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -152,7 +152,9 @@ def xpath_text(node, xpath, name=None, fatal=False):
     return n.text
 
 
-compat_html_parser.locatestarttagend = re.compile(r"""<[a-zA-Z][-.a-zA-Z0-9:_]*(?:\s+(?:(?<=['"\s])[^\s/>][^\s/=>]*(?:\s*=+\s*(?:'[^']*'|"[^"]*"|(?!['"])[^>\s]*))?\s*)*)?\s*""", re.VERBOSE) # backport bugfix
+if sys.version_info < (2, 7):
+    compat_html_parser.locatestarttagend = re.compile(r"""<[a-zA-Z][-.a-zA-Z0-9:_]*(?:\s+(?:(?<=['"\s])[^\s/>][^\s/=>]*(?:\s*=+\s*(?:'[^']*'|"[^"]*"|(?!['"])[^>\s]*))?\s*)*)?\s*""", re.VERBOSE) # backport bugfix
+
 class BaseHTMLParser(compat_html_parser.HTMLParser):
     def __init(self):
         compat_html_parser.HTMLParser.__init__(self)