diff --git a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/auth.py b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/auth.py
index 68531a0..b47e038 100644
--- a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/auth.py
+++ b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/auth.py
@@ -111,6 +111,20 @@ class RTLPlusAuthenticator(BaseOAuth2Authenticator):
             scope=response_data.get("scope", ""),
         )
 
+    def get_current_token_level(self) -> "TokenAuthLevel":
+        """
+        Return the auth level of whichever token the base class currently holds.
+
+        Walks the common attribute names used by BaseOAuth2Authenticator to
+        store the active token, classifies it via _classify_token, and returns
+        UNKNOWN if no token is found.
+        """
+        for attr in ("token", "_token", "current_token", "_current_token", "_access_token"):
+            tok = getattr(self, attr, None)
+            if tok is not None:
+                return self._classify_token(tok)
+        return TokenAuthLevel.UNKNOWN
+
     def get_fallback_credentials(self):
         """Get fallback credentials (anonymous client credentials)"""
         return self._get_default_credentials()
@@ -367,4 +381,4 @@ class RTLPlusAuthenticator(BaseOAuth2Authenticator):
         if self.has_user_credentials() and hasattr(self.credentials, "username"):
             status["username"] = self.credentials.username
 
-        return status
+        return status
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/provider.py b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/provider.py
index 275b060..508a8dc 100644
--- a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/provider.py
+++ b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/provider.py
@@ -98,23 +98,13 @@ class RTLPlusProvider(StreamingProvider):
         Get headers with authentication and RTL+ specific headers.
 
         Upgrades from anonymous to user token only when user credentials are
-        configured but a user-level token has not yet been obtained, preventing
-        redundant re-authentication on every subsequent request.
+        configured and the current token is not already at user level.  This
+        prevents a full re-authentication round-trip on every single request
+        once a valid user token is already held.
         """
         from ...base.auth.base_auth import TokenAuthLevel
 
-        # Determine whether an upgrade attempt is warranted:
-        # - User credentials are stored → we *want* a user token
-        # - Current token is not yet at user level → upgrade is needed
-        # Once a user token is live, _classify_token returns USER_AUTHENTICATED
-        # and we skip the expensive re-auth entirely.
-        current_token = getattr(self.authenticator, "token", None) or \
-                        getattr(self.authenticator, "_token", None)
-        current_level = (
-            self.authenticator._classify_token(current_token)
-            if current_token
-            else TokenAuthLevel.UNKNOWN
-        )
+        current_level = self.authenticator.get_current_token_level()
         force_upgrade = (
             self.authenticator.has_user_credentials()
             and current_level != TokenAuthLevel.USER_AUTHENTICATED
diff --git a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/vod_manager.py b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/vod_manager.py
index 79539da..fb2d278 100644
--- a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/vod_manager.py
+++ b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/rtlplus/vod_manager.py
@@ -104,7 +104,28 @@ class RTLPlusVodManager:
         Depth 2, series-genre → Series VodItems for a genre (OverviewPage SERIES)
         Depth 2, topic        → Season list for a Format
         Depth 3               → Episode list for a Season
+
+        Path normalisation
+        ------------------
+        Callers may pass the watch-path either as a single element
+        ("/video-tv/serien") or pre-split without a leading slash
+        (["video-tv", "serien"]).  We reassemble and re-prefix so that all
+        downstream checks see a consistent leading-slash watch-path in [0].
         """
+        # Reassemble paths that were split on "/" without a leading slash,
+        # e.g. ["video-tv", "serien"] → ["/video-tv/serien"]
+        # Leave RRNs ("rrn:…") and already-slash-prefixed paths untouched.
+        if (
+            category_path
+            and not category_path[0].startswith("/")
+            and not category_path[0].startswith("rrn:")
+            and not category_path[0].startswith("season:")
+            and not category_path[0].startswith("movies-genre:")
+            and not category_path[0].startswith("series-genre:")
+        ):
+            # Rejoin all segments as a single watch-path element
+            category_path = ["/" + "/".join(category_path)]
+
         depth = len(category_path)
 
         if depth == 0: