diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 5036289b06..ba72ec6f3d 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -196,8 +196,8 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
     prefer_insecure:   Use HTTP instead of HTTPS to retrieve information.
                        At the moment, this is only supported by YouTube.
     proxy:             URL of the proxy server to use
-    cn_verification_proxy:  URL of the proxy to use for IP address verification
-                       on Chinese sites. (Experimental)
+    geo_verification_proxy:  URL of the proxy to use for IP address verification
+                       on geo-restricted sites. (Experimental)
     socket_timeout:    Time to wait for unresponsive hosts, in seconds
     bidi_workaround:   Work around buggy terminals without bidirectional text
                        support, using fridibi
@@ -304,6 +304,11 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         self.params.update(params)
         self.cache = Cache(self)
 
+        if self.params.get('cn_verification_proxy') is not None:
+            self.report_warning('--cn-verification-proxy is deprecated. Use --geo-verification-proxy instead.')
+            if self.params.get('geo_verification_proxy') is None:
+                self.params['geo_verification_proxy'] = self.params['cn_verification_proxy']
+
         if params.get('bidi_workaround', False):
             try:
                 import pty
diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index 4905674ad2..2b34bf9c28 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -382,6 +382,8 @@ def _real_main(argv=None):
         'external_downloader_args': external_downloader_args,
         'postprocessor_args': postprocessor_args,
         'cn_verification_proxy': opts.cn_verification_proxy,
+        'geo_verification_proxy': opts.geo_verification_proxy,
+
     }
 
     with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
index e6c15de42a..be2b6ff667 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -1729,6 +1729,13 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
     def _mark_watched(self, *args, **kwargs):
         raise NotImplementedError('This method must be implemented by subclasses')
 
+    def geo_verification_headers(self):
+        headers = {}
+        geo_verification_proxy = self._downloader.params.get('geo_verification_proxy')
+        if geo_verification_proxy:
+            headers['Ytdl-request-proxy'] = geo_verification_proxy
+        return headers
+
 
 class SearchInfoExtractor(InfoExtractor):
     """
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/iqiyi.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/iqiyi.py
index 754e6057c9..ba037d48c5 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/iqiyi.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/iqiyi.py
@@ -293,14 +293,10 @@ class IqiyiIE(InfoExtractor):
             't': tm,
         }
 
-        headers = {}
-        cn_verification_proxy = self._downloader.params.get('cn_verification_proxy')
-        if cn_verification_proxy:
-            headers['Ytdl-request-proxy'] = cn_verification_proxy
         return self._download_json(
             'http://cache.m.iqiyi.com/jp/tmts/%s/%s/' % (tvid, video_id),
             video_id, transform_source=lambda s: remove_start(s, 'var tvInfoJs='),
-            query=params, headers=headers)
+            query=params, headers=self.geo_verification_headers())
 
     def _extract_playlist(self, webpage):
         PAGE_SIZE = 50
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/kuwo.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/kuwo.py
index 0221fb9191..b1d460599e 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/kuwo.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/kuwo.py
@@ -26,11 +26,6 @@ class KuwoBaseIE(InfoExtractor):
     def _get_formats(self, song_id, tolerate_ip_deny=False):
         formats = []
         for file_format in self._FORMATS:
-            headers = {}
-            cn_verification_proxy = self._downloader.params.get('cn_verification_proxy')
-            if cn_verification_proxy:
-                headers['Ytdl-request-proxy'] = cn_verification_proxy
-
             query = {
                 'format': file_format['ext'],
                 'br': file_format.get('br', ''),
@@ -42,7 +37,7 @@ class KuwoBaseIE(InfoExtractor):
             song_url = self._download_webpage(
                 'http://antiserver.kuwo.cn/anti.s',
                 song_id, note='Download %s url info' % file_format['format'],
-                query=query, headers=headers,
+                query=query, headers=self.geo_verification_headers(),
             )
 
             if song_url == 'IPDeny' and not tolerate_ip_deny:
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/leeco.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/leeco.py
index 959d716173..171b705c70 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/leeco.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/leeco.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ from ..utils import (
     int_or_none,
     orderedSet,
     parse_iso8601,
-    sanitized_Request,
     str_or_none,
     url_basename,
     urshift,
@@ -121,16 +120,11 @@ class LeIE(InfoExtractor):
             'tkey': self.calc_time_key(int(time.time())),
             'domain': 'www.le.com'
         }
-        play_json_req = sanitized_Request(
-            'http://api.le.com/mms/out/video/playJson?' + compat_urllib_parse_urlencode(params)
-        )
-        cn_verification_proxy = self._downloader.params.get('cn_verification_proxy')
-        if cn_verification_proxy:
-            play_json_req.add_header('Ytdl-request-proxy', cn_verification_proxy)
 
         play_json = self._download_json(
-            play_json_req,
-            media_id, 'Downloading playJson data')
+            'http://api.le.com/mms/out/video/playJson',
+            media_id, 'Downloading playJson data', query=params,
+            headers=self.geo_verification_headers())
 
         # Check for errors
         playstatus = play_json['playstatus']
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/rai.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/rai.py
index 1f0fcd6094..dc640b1bcb 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/rai.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/rai.py
@@ -20,17 +20,12 @@ class RaiBaseIE(InfoExtractor):
         formats = []
 
         for platform in ('mon', 'flash', 'native'):
-            headers = {}
-            # TODO: rename --cn-verification-proxy
-            cn_verification_proxy = self._downloader.params.get('cn_verification_proxy')
-            if cn_verification_proxy:
-                headers['Ytdl-request-proxy'] = cn_verification_proxy
-
             relinker = self._download_xml(
                 relinker_url, video_id,
                 note='Downloading XML metadata for platform %s' % platform,
                 transform_source=fix_xml_ampersands,
-                query={'output': 45, 'pl': platform}, headers=headers)
+                query={'output': 45, 'pl': platform},
+                headers=self.geo_verification_headers())
 
             media_url = find_xpath_attr(relinker, './url', 'type', 'content').text
             if media_url == 'http://download.rai.it/video_no_available.mp4':
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/sohu.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/sohu.py
index 49e5d09ae4..72fe66142a 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/sohu.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/sohu.py
@@ -8,10 +8,7 @@ from ..compat import (
     compat_str,
     compat_urllib_parse_urlencode,
 )
-from ..utils import (
-    ExtractorError,
-    sanitized_Request,
-)
+from ..utils import ExtractorError
 
 
 class SohuIE(InfoExtractor):
@@ -96,15 +93,10 @@ class SohuIE(InfoExtractor):
             else:
                 base_data_url = 'http://hot.vrs.sohu.com/vrs_flash.action?vid='
 
-            req = sanitized_Request(base_data_url + vid_id)
-
-            cn_verification_proxy = self._downloader.params.get('cn_verification_proxy')
-            if cn_verification_proxy:
-                req.add_header('Ytdl-request-proxy', cn_verification_proxy)
-
             return self._download_json(
-                req, video_id,
-                'Downloading JSON data for %s' % vid_id)
+                base_data_url + vid_id, video_id,
+                'Downloading JSON data for %s' % vid_id,
+                headers=self.geo_verification_headers())
 
         mobj = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
         video_id = mobj.group('id')
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youku.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youku.py
index 147608ebeb..e37f237c76 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youku.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youku.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ from ..compat import (
 from ..utils import (
     ExtractorError,
     get_element_by_attribute,
-    sanitized_Request,
 )
 
 
@@ -218,14 +217,10 @@ class YoukuIE(InfoExtractor):
             headers = {
                 'Referer': req_url,
             }
+            headers.update(self.geo_verification_headers())
             self._set_cookie('youku.com', 'xreferrer', 'http://www.youku.com')
-            req = sanitized_Request(req_url, headers=headers)
 
-            cn_verification_proxy = self._downloader.params.get('cn_verification_proxy')
-            if cn_verification_proxy:
-                req.add_header('Ytdl-request-proxy', cn_verification_proxy)
-
-            raw_data = self._download_json(req, video_id, note=note)
+            raw_data = self._download_json(req_url, video_id, note=note, headers=headers)
 
             return raw_data['data']
 
diff --git a/youtube_dl/options.py b/youtube_dl/options.py
index c9033e3cb2..f2e3ad7a17 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/options.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/options.py
@@ -209,11 +209,16 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
         action='store_const', const='::', dest='source_address',
         help='Make all connections via IPv6 (experimental)',
     )
+    network.add_option(
+        '--geo-verification-proxy',
+        dest='geo_verification_proxy', default=None, metavar='URL',
+        help='Use this proxy to verify the IP address for some geo-restricted sites. '
+        'The default proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the options is not present) is used for the actual downloading. (experimental)'
+    )
     network.add_option(
         '--cn-verification-proxy',
         dest='cn_verification_proxy', default=None, metavar='URL',
-        help='Use this proxy to verify the IP address for some Chinese sites. '
-        'The default proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the options is not present) is used for the actual downloading. (experimental)'
+        help=optparse.SUPPRESS_HELP,
     )
 
     selection = optparse.OptionGroup(parser, 'Video Selection')