diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/stretchinternet.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/stretchinternet.py
index 752f8ca11..fa968c5bd 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/stretchinternet.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/stretchinternet.py
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 from .common import InfoExtractor
-from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from datetime import datetime
 try:
-    from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo  # Python 3.9+
+    from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo as compat_ZoneInfo  # Python 3.9+
 except ImportError:
-    from ..compat import compat_zoneinfo as ZoneInfo  # Fallback for older versions
+    compat_ZoneInfo = None  # Fallback: Do not handle alphabetic time zones
 
 from ..utils import unified_timestamp, parse_iso8601
 
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ class StretchInternetIE(InfoExtractor):
 
     def _real_extract(self, url):
         video_id = self._match_id(url)
+
         media_url = self._download_json(
             'https://core.stretchlive.com/trinity/event/tcg/' + video_id,
             video_id)[0]['media'][0]['url']
@@ -33,16 +35,16 @@ class StretchInternetIE(InfoExtractor):
         """Parses an ISO 8601 date string into a UNIX timestamp."""
         if not date_string:
             return None
-        
-        # Try using youtube-dl's existing utilities
+
+        # Attempt to use built-in utils first
         timestamp = unified_timestamp(date_string) or parse_iso8601(date_string)
         if timestamp is not None:
             return timestamp
 
         try:
-            # Manual parsing for cases not handled by utils
+            # Manually parse ISO 8601 datetime string with numeric timezone offset
             dt = datetime.strptime(date_string, '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')
-            return int(dt.timestamp())  # UTC timestamp
+            return int(dt.timestamp())  # Convert to UNIX timestamp
         except ValueError:
             self._downloader.report_warning(f"Could not parse date string: {date_string}")