Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			0 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Jul. 31, 2012 DISH Digital Holding LLC	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2009 EchoStar XVI	Sep. 30, 2013 Gilbert Lease Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 Santa Fe Lease Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 Inverness Lease Agreement	Oct. 02, 2012 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Apr. 29, 2011 EchoStar TiVo vs Dish Network and EchoStar Corporation item	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Remanufactured Receiver Agreement	Jan. 02, 2013 EchoStar Professional Services Agreement	Jan. 02, 2013 EchoStar Management Services Agreement	May 31, 2010 EchoStar Certain Sports Related Programming Broadcast Agreement	Dec. 21, 2012 EchoStar EchoStar XVI	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2009 EchoStar Nimiq 5 Agreement transponder	Dec. 31, 2009 EchoStar DISH Nimiq 5 Agreement transponder	Dec. 31, 2008 EchoStar QuetzSat-1 Lease Agreement transponder	Sep. 30, 2012 EchoStar QuetzSat-1 Transponder Agreement transponder	Dec. 31, 2008 EchoStar QuetzSat-1 Transponder Agreement transponder	May 31, 2013 EchoStar 103 degree orbital location member	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar 103 degree orbital location member	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar 103 degree orbital location member	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Tax Sharing Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar TT&C Agreement	Mar. 31, 2012 EchoStar DBSD North America Agreement item	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar Application Development Agreement	Sep. 30, 2012 EchoStar XIP Encryption Agreement	Sep. 30, 2010 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Sep. 30, 2012 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Sep. 30, 2012 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2012 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2012 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar Receiver Agreement Minimum	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar Product Support Agreement Minimum	Nov. 30, 2012 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement	Jan. 31, 2010 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement item	Feb. 23, 2010 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Feb. 23, 2010 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2011 EchoStar Patent Cross-License Agreements Maximum	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar El Paso Lease Agreement item	Dec. 31, 2008 EchoStar Varick Sublease Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Radio Access Network Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar Radio Access Network Agreement	May 31, 2013 EchoStar EchoStar XV	Sep. 30, 2013 Blockbuster, Inc.	Sep. 30, 2013 NagraStar	Sep. 30, 2012 NagraStar	Sep. 30, 2013 NagraStar	Sep. 30, 2012 NagraStar	Dec. 31, 2012 NagraStar	Sep. 30, 2013 HNS Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 HNS Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement
Related Party Transactions
Payments to the related party																										$ 23,000,000
Net book value of asset	35,964,000		35,964,000																							20,000,000	20,000,000
Capital distribution																										3,000,000
Minimum required notice period for termination of agreement by related party														60 days
Automatic renewal period															1 year	1 year																												1 year			1 year		1 year
Minimum notice period for termination of a specific service															30 days
Notice period for termination of agreement									30 days		6 months	180 days			60 days															30 days	90 days	30 days
Purchased set-top boxes and other equipment from EchoStar																																						341,000,000	247,000,000	947,000,000	738,000,000
Net amount of the allocated tax attributes payable																												83,000,000
Maximum grants receivable																																	14,000,000
Cost of sales - equipment, merchandise, services, rental and other	81,521,000	120,852,000	257,830,000	393,175,000																														4,000,000	3,000,000	6,000,000
Minimum required notice period for termination by the reporting entity																													60 days			180 days	45 days				180 days					60 days	60 days		120 days		120 days		120 days
Agreement term								10 years				5 years					10 years			15 years	10 years				10 years																				2 years	5 years		5 years						7 years
Agreement term from commencement of service date							4 years											4 years	4 years			10 years					10 years
Number of DBS transponders available to receive services																				32		32
Number of DBS transponders expected to receive services																								24
Number of DBS transponders currently used																					32
Number of transponders subleased																							5
Term of renewal option							6 years			1 year		1 year							6 years											1 year		1 year					1 year																3 years					1 year
Term of renewal option exercised																																													1 year
Additional term of renewal option							5 years												5 years																																						3 years
Number of successive one year renewal options																														3															3
Number of consecutive three year renewal options																																																					4
Payments to third party by related party under extension option																																																		3,000,000
Subscriber-related expenses	1,976,712,000	1,808,285,000	5,812,325,000	5,393,202,000																																															9,000,000	19,000,000
Broadband equipment purchased from EchoStar																																																																20,000,000	57,000,000
Purchases from NagraStar																																																											22,563,000	17,895,000	69,129,000	53,624,000
Payments to third party																																																		10,000,000
Amounts payable to NagraStar	336,164,000		336,164,000		281,875,000																																																						18,923,000		18,923,000		21,930,000
Settlement amount													500,000,000
Initial settlement amount paid													300,000,000
Contribution from related party													10,000,000
Aggregate of six annual installment amounts between 2012 and 2017, net of contribution from related party													200,000,000
Litigation settlement number of annual installments													6
Percentage of litigation settlement amount to be made by related party													95.00%
Property and equipment capitalization																																																							$ 8,000,000	$ 3,000,000
Notice period to exercise option to extend agreement																																180 days
Ownership percentage						67.00%
Related party ownership interest in subsidiary (as a percentage)						33.00%