Commitments and Contingencies (Details 4) (USD $)	12 Months Ended					0 Months Ended		12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Satellite lease guarantees	Dec. 31, 2012 Satellite transponder guarantees	Oct. 11, 2012 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Apr. 15, 2009 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Dec. 31, 2012 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Dec. 31, 2011 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Dec. 31, 2008 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Jun. 21, 2011 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Dec. 31, 2010 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Mar. 15, 2010 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Jul. 31, 2009 Technology Development Licensing item	Apr. 30, 2010 Voom HD Holdings	Dec. 31, 2012 Voom HD Holdings	Oct. 23, 2012 Voom HD Holdings DISH Network L.L.C.	Dec. 31, 2012 Pragmatus Minimum item	Dec. 31, 2012 Katz Communications-Patent infringement item	Dec. 31, 2007 Katz Communications-Patent infringement item	May 31, 2012 Patent infringement or breach of agreement Maximum
Loss contingencies
Guarantees for payments				$ 111,000,000	$ 438,000,000
Guarantee term				P26M
Claim amount							30,000,000			35,000,000					2,500,000,000
Court ruling											66,000,000		66,000,000
Attorneys' fees						5,000,000
Litigation accrual								71,000,000				42,000,000
Litigation Expense	(730,457,000)	316,949,000	(225,456,000)						24,000,000
General and administrative expenses	1,283,697,000	1,185,009,000	578,386,000					5,000,000
Number of days to store HD primetime programs recordings																					8 days
Loss contingency terms
Number of reexamination petitions pending before patent and trademark office														2					2
Number of patents the suit alleges infringement of																				19
Number of patents remain in the lawsuit																			4
Settlement amount																	700,000,000
Payments under the multi-year affiliation agreement to the fair value of the Settlement Agreement																54,000,000
Fair value of MVDDS Licenses																$ 24,000,000
Number of companies against whom similar complaints bought																		40