diff --git a/adafruit_matrixportal/network.py b/adafruit_matrixportal/network.py
index c88f7d5..2f3aa71 100755
--- a/adafruit_matrixportal/network.py
+++ b/adafruit_matrixportal/network.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import os
 import time
 import gc
+from micropython import const
 import adafruit_esp32spi.adafruit_esp32spi_socket as socket
 from adafruit_io.adafruit_io import IO_HTTP, AdafruitIO_RequestError
 import adafruit_requests as requests
@@ -70,6 +71,14 @@
 STATUS_DATA_RECEIVED = (0, 0, 100)
 STATUS_OFF = (0, 0, 0)
 
+CONTENT_TEXT = const(1)
+CONTENT_JSON = const(2)
+CONTENT_IMAGE = const(3)
+
+
+class HttpError(Exception):
+    """HTTP Specific Error"""
+
 
 class Network:
     """Class representing the Adafruit RGB Matrix Portal.
@@ -223,9 +232,32 @@ def wget(self, url, filename, *, chunk_size=12000):
         self.neo_status(STATUS_FETCHING)
         response = requests.get(url, stream=True)
 
+        headers = {}
+        for title, content in response.headers.items():
+            headers[title.lower()] = content
+
+        if response.status_code == 200:
+            print("Reply is OK!")
+            self.neo_status((0, 0, 100))  # green = got data
+        else:
+            if self._debug:
+                if "content-length" in headers:
+                    print("Content-Length: {}".format(int(headers["content-length"])))
+                if "date" in headers:
+                    print("Date: {}".format(headers["date"]))
+            self.neo_status((100, 0, 0))  # red = http error
+            raise HttpError(
+                "Code {}: {}".format(
+                    response.status_code, response.reason.decode("utf-8")
+                )
+            )
+
         if self._debug:
             print(response.headers)
-        content_length = int(response.headers["content-length"])
+        if "content-length" in headers:
+            content_length = int(headers["content-length"])
+        else:
+            raise RuntimeError("Content-Length missing from headers")
         remaining = content_length
         print("Saving data to ", filename)
         stamp = time.monotonic()
@@ -392,8 +424,6 @@ def fetch(self, url, *, headers=None, timeout=10):
             gc.collect()
             response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, timeout=timeout)
             gc.collect()
-            self.neo_status(STATUS_DATA_RECEIVED)  # green = got data
-            print("Reply is OK!")
 
         return response
 
@@ -403,10 +433,40 @@ def fetch_data(
         """Fetch data from the specified url and perfom any parsing"""
         json_out = None
         values = []
+        content_type = CONTENT_TEXT
 
         response = self.fetch(url, headers=headers, timeout=timeout)
 
-        if json_path is not None:
+        headers = {}
+        for title, content in response.headers.items():
+            headers[title.lower()] = content
+        gc.collect()
+        if self._debug:
+            print("Headers:", headers)
+        if response.status_code == 200:
+            print("Reply is OK!")
+            self.neo_status(STATUS_DATA_RECEIVED)  # green = got data
+            if "content-type" in headers:
+                if "image/" in headers["content-type"]:
+                    content_type = CONTENT_IMAGE
+                elif "application/json" in headers["content-type"]:
+                    content_type = CONTENT_JSON
+                elif "application/javascript" in headers["content-type"]:
+                    content_type = CONTENT_JSON
+        else:
+            if self._debug:
+                if "content-length" in headers:
+                    print("Content-Length: {}".format(int(headers["content-length"])))
+                if "date" in headers:
+                    print("Date: {}".format(headers["date"]))
+            self.neo_status((100, 0, 0))  # red = http error
+            raise HttpError(
+                "Code {}: {}".format(
+                    response.status_code, response.reason.decode("utf-8")
+                )
+            )
+
+        if content_type == CONTENT_JSON and json_path is not None:
             if isinstance(json_path, (list, tuple)) and (
                 not json_path or not isinstance(json_path[0], (list, tuple))
             ):
@@ -436,18 +496,24 @@ def fetch_data(
                 raise
 
         # extract desired text/values from json
-        if json_path:
+        if json_out and json_path:
             for path in json_path:
                 try:
                     values.append(self.json_traverse(json_out, path))
                 except KeyError:
                     print(json_out)
                     raise
-        elif regexp_path:
+        elif content_type == CONTENT_TEXT and regexp_path:
             for regexp in regexp_path:
                 values.append(re.search(regexp, response.text).group(1))
         else:
-            values = response.text
+            if json_out:
+                # No path given, so return JSON as string for compatibility
+                import json  # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+
+                values = json.dumps(response.json())
+            else:
+                values = response.text
 
         # we're done with the requests object, lets delete it so we can do more!
         json_out = None