diff --git a/rt_bmark.py b/rt_bmark.py
index 2a4eed4..19a617f 100755
--- a/rt_bmark.py
+++ b/rt_bmark.py
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ cmd = ("cyclictest",
 rex = re.compile(r"C:\s*(\d+).*Min:\s*(\d+).*Avg:\s*(\d+).*Max:\s*(\d+)")
 
 def run_cyclictest_once():
-        res = subprocess.check_output(cmd)
+        res = subprocess.check_output(cmd, encoding='utf-8')
 
         # minlist and maxlist are lists with the extremes for each core
         # avg_cnt is the sum of cycles for all cores