diff --git a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
index afd77765f..ed4fac7dc 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -1621,7 +1621,10 @@ def _handle_extraction_exceptions(func):
         @functools.wraps(func)
         def wrapper(self, *args, **kwargs):
             wait_retries = 0
-            max_retries = self.params.get('wait_retries')
+            wait_range = self.params.get('wait_for_video')
+            max_retries = float('inf')
+            if wait_range and wait_range[2] is not None:
+                max_retries = wait_range[2]
             while True:
                 try:
                     return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
@@ -1699,7 +1702,7 @@ def _wait_for_video(self, ie_result={}):
                 or ie_result.get('formats') or ie_result.get('url')):
             return
 
-        min_wait, max_wait = self.params.get('wait_for_video')
+        min_wait, max_wait, _ = self.params.get('wait_for_video')
         diff = try_get(ie_result, lambda x: x['release_timestamp'] - time.time())
         if diff is None and ie_result.get('live_status') == 'is_upcoming':
             diff = round(random.uniform(min_wait, max_wait) if (max_wait and min_wait) else (max_wait or min_wait), 0)
diff --git a/yt_dlp/__init__.py b/yt_dlp/__init__.py
index f0fe612dd..286f41f50 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/__init__.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/__init__.py
@@ -225,12 +225,36 @@ def validate_minmax(min_val, max_val, min_name, max_name=None):
     else:
         validate_minmax(opts.sleep_interval, opts.max_sleep_interval, 'sleep interval')
 
+    def parse_retries(name, value):
+        if value is None:
+            return None
+        elif value in ('inf', 'infinite'):
+            return float('inf')
+        try:
+            return int(value)
+        except (TypeError, ValueError):
+            validate(False, f'{name} retry count', value)
+
+    def parse_range_with_arg(name, arg_name, value,
+                                  parse_limits=parse_duration, parse_arg=parse_retries):
+        # syntax: MIN[-MAX][:N]
+        m = re.fullmatch(r'([^-:]+)(-[^:]+)?(:.+)?', value)
+        validate(m, name, value)
+        min_val, max_val, arg_val = m.groups()
+
+        min_lim, max_lim = map(parse_limits, [min_val, (max_val and max_val[1:])])
+        validate(min_lim is not None, name, value)
+        validate(max_val is None or max_lim is not None, name, value)
+        validate_minmax(min_lim, max_lim, name)
+
+        parsed_arg = parse_arg(arg_name, arg_val and arg_val[1:])
+        return (min_lim, max_lim, parsed_arg)
+
     if opts.wait_for_video is not None:
-        min_wait, max_wait, *_ = map(parse_duration, [*opts.wait_for_video.split('-', 1), None])
-        validate(min_wait is not None and not (max_wait is None and '-' in opts.wait_for_video),
-                 'time range to wait for video', opts.wait_for_video)
-        validate_minmax(min_wait, max_wait, 'time range to wait for video')
-        opts.wait_for_video = (min_wait, max_wait)
+        min_wait, max_wait, wait_retries = parse_range_with_arg(
+                'time range to wait for video', 'waiting', opts.wait_for_video)
+        validate_positive('waiting retry count', wait_retries)
+        opts.wait_for_video = (min_wait, max_wait, wait_retries)
 
     # Format sort
     for f in opts.format_sort:
@@ -255,19 +279,8 @@ def validate_minmax(min_val, max_val, min_name, max_name=None):
         validate_positive('audio quality', int_or_none(float_or_none(opts.audioquality), default=0))
 
     # Retries
-    def parse_retries(name, value):
-        if value is None:
-            return None
-        elif value in ('inf', 'infinite'):
-            return float('inf')
-        try:
-            return int(value)
-        except (TypeError, ValueError):
-            validate(False, f'{name} retry count', value)
-
     opts.retries = parse_retries('download', opts.retries)
     opts.fragment_retries = parse_retries('fragment', opts.fragment_retries)
-    opts.wait_retries = parse_retries('waiting', opts.wait_retries)
     opts.extractor_retries = parse_retries('extractor', opts.extractor_retries)
     opts.file_access_retries = parse_retries('file access', opts.file_access_retries)
 
@@ -928,7 +941,6 @@ def parse_options(argv=None):
         'extract_flat': opts.extract_flat,
         'live_from_start': opts.live_from_start,
         'wait_for_video': opts.wait_for_video,
-        'wait_retries': opts.wait_retries,
         'mark_watched': opts.mark_watched,
         'merge_output_format': opts.merge_output_format,
         'final_ext': final_ext,
diff --git a/yt_dlp/options.py b/yt_dlp/options.py
index cd1a273f2..c05910a58 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/options.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/options.py
@@ -436,18 +436,16 @@ def _alias_callback(option, opt_str, value, parser, opts, nargs):
         help='Download livestreams from the current time (default)')
     general.add_option(
         '--wait-for-video',
-        dest='wait_for_video', metavar='MIN[-MAX]', default=None,
+        dest='wait_for_video', metavar='MIN[-MAX][:RETRIES]', default=None,
         help=(
             'Wait for scheduled streams to become available. '
-            'Pass the minimum number of seconds (or range) to wait between retries'))
+            'Pass the minimum number of seconds (or range) to wait between retries. '
+            'RETRIES is the maximum number of additional attempts if the video '
+            'is still unavailable after waiting (default is infinite)'))
     general.add_option(
         '--no-wait-for-video',
         dest='wait_for_video', action='store_const', const=None,
         help='Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)')
-    general.add_option(
-        '--wait-retries',
-        dest='wait_retries', metavar='RETRIES', default='infinite',
-        help='Number of retries while waiting for scheduled streams to become available (default is %default). --wait-for-video must also be set')
     general.add_option(
         '--mark-watched',
         action='store_true', dest='mark_watched', default=False,