diff --git a/std/player/protocols/gmcp.c b/std/player/protocols/gmcp.c
index b46ac48..3731514 100644
--- a/std/player/protocols/gmcp.c
+++ b/std/player/protocols/gmcp.c
@@ -132,9 +132,10 @@
 private void GMCP_send(string cmd, mixed data)
 {
   GMCP_DEBUG("GMCP_send",sprintf("%s %O",cmd,data), 30);
-  send_telnet_neg_str(to_bytes(
-        sprintf("%c%c%s %s", SB, TELOPT_GMCP,
-                cmd, json_serialize(data)),"ASCII//TRANSLIT"), 1);
+  send_telnet_neg_str(
+      to_bytes(({SB, TELOPT_GMCP})) + 
+      to_bytes(sprintf("%s %s", cmd, json_serialize(data)),
+        "ASCII//TRANSLIT"), 1);
 }
 
 private void GMCP_unregister_module(string mod)