diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/pac12.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/pac12.py
index 004165d72..2a5020106 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/pac12.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/pac12.py
@@ -44,14 +44,18 @@ class Pac12IE(InfoExtractor):
                 return None
             return self.url_result(vod_url)
         video_url = re.sub(r'\\', '', video_url)
-        title = self._html_search_regex(r'<title>(.+?)</title>',
-                                        webpage, 'title')
         if 'vod-' not in url and vod_url is not None:
             video_id = self._match_id(vod_url)
+        title = self._html_search_regex(r'<title>(.+?)</title>',
+                                        webpage, 'title')
+        description = self._og_search_description(webpage, default=None) \
+            or self._search_regex(r'"description":"(?P<description>[^"]+)"',
+                                  webpage, 'description', default="") \
+                   .encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape')
         return {
             'id': video_id,
             'title': title,
-            'description': self._og_search_description(webpage),
+            'description': description,
             'url': video_url,
             'ext': 'mp4',
         }