diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/tagesschau.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/tagesschau.py
index 636607db5..b84892364 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/tagesschau.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/tagesschau.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from ..utils import parse_filesize, ExtractorError
 
 
 class TagesschauIE(InfoExtractor):
-    _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?tagesschau\.de/multimedia/(?:sendung/(ts|tsg|tt|nm|bab/bab)|video/video|tsvorzwanzig)(?P<id>-?[0-9]+)(?:~[-_a-zA-Z0-9]*)?\.html'
+    _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?tagesschau\.de/multimedia/(?:[^/]+/)*?[^/#?]+?(?P<id>-?[0-9]+)(?:~_[^/#?]+?)?\.html'
 
     _TESTS = [{
         'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-102143.html',
@@ -29,57 +29,31 @@ class TagesschauIE(InfoExtractor):
             'description': 'md5:695c01bfd98b7e313c501386327aea59',
             'title': 'Sendung: tagesschau \t04.12.2014 20:00 Uhr',
             'thumbnail': 're:^http:.*\.jpg$',
-        }
+        },
     }, {
         'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/tsg-3771.html',
-        'md5': '90757268b49ef56deae90c7b48928d58',
-        'info_dict': {
-            'id': '3771',
-            'ext': 'mp4',
-            'description': None,
-            'title': 'Sendung: tagesschau (mit Gebärdensprache) \t14.07.2015 20:00 Uhr',
-            'thumbnail': 're:^http:.*\.jpg$',
-        }
+        'only_matching': True,
     }, {
         'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/tt-3827.html',
-        'md5': '6e3ebdc75e8d67da966a8d06721eda71',
-        'info_dict': {
-            'id': '3827',
-            'ext': 'mp4',
-            'description': 'md5:d511d0e278b0ad341a95ad9ab992ce66',
-            'title': 'Sendung: tagesthemen \t14.07.2015 22:15 Uhr',
-            'thumbnail': 're:^http:.*\.jpg$',
-        }
+        'only_matching': True,
     }, {
         'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/nm-3475.html',
-        'md5': '8a8875a568f0a5ae5ceef93c501a225f',
-        'info_dict': {
-            'id': '3475',
-            'ext': 'mp4',
-            'description': 'md5:ed149f5649cda3dac86813a9d777e131',
-            'title': 'Sendung: nachtmagazin \t15.07.2015 00:15 Uhr',
-            'thumbnail': 're:^http:.*\.jpg$',
-        }
+        'only_matching': True,
+    }, {
+        'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/weltspiegel-3167.html',
+        'only_matching': True,
     }, {
         'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/tsvorzwanzig-959.html',
-        'md5': 'be4d6f0421f2acd8abe25ea29f6f015b',
-        'info_dict': {
-            'id': '959',
-            'ext': 'mp4',
-            'description': None,
-            'title': 'Sendung: tagesschau vor 20 Jahren \t14.07.2015 22:45 Uhr',
-            'thumbnail': 're:^http:.*\.jpg$',
-        }
+        'only_matching': True,
     }, {
         'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/bab/bab-3299~_bab-sendung-209.html',
-        'md5': '42e3757018d9908581481a80cc1806da',
-        'info_dict': {
-            'id': '3299',
-            'ext': 'mp4',
-            'description': None,
-            'title': 'Nach dem Referendum: Schaltgespräch nach Athen',
-            'thumbnail': 're:^http:.*\.jpg$',
-        }
+        'only_matching': True,
+    }, {
+        'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-102303~_bab-sendung-211.html',
+        'only_matching': True,
+    }, {
+        'url': 'http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/politikimradio/audio-18407.html',
+        'only_matching': True,
     }]
 
     _FORMATS = {
@@ -152,11 +126,9 @@ class TagesschauIE(InfoExtractor):
             thumbnail_fn = self._search_regex(
                 r'(?s)<img alt="Sendungsbild".*?src="([^"]+)"',
                 webpage, 'thumbnail', fatal=False)
-            # there are some videos without description
-            description = ""
             description = self._html_search_regex(
                 r'(?s)<p class="teasertext">(.*?)</p>',
-                webpage, 'description', fatal=False, default=None)
+                webpage, 'description', default=None)
             title = self._html_search_regex(
                 r'<span class="headline".*?>(.*?)</span>', webpage, 'title')