Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended						9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jul. 02, 2012 DISH Digital Holding LLC	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2009 EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2013 Gilbert Lease Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 Santa Fe Lease Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 Inverness Lease Agreement	Mar. 31, 2012 Sprint Settlement Agreement	Oct. 02, 2012 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2011 Tivo Inc	Dec. 31, 2010 Tivo Inc	Apr. 29, 2011 EchoStar TiVo vs Dish Network and EchoStar Corporation Item	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar TiVo vs Dish Network and EchoStar Corporation	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Remanufactured Receiver Agreement Minimum	Jan. 02, 2014 EchoStar Professional Services Agreement	Jan. 02, 2013 EchoStar Management Services Agreement	May 31, 2013 EchoStar EchoStar XVIII	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar 2012 Broadcast Agreement Minimum	May 31, 2010 EchoStar Certain Sports Related Programming Broadcast Agreement	Dec. 31, 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	May 31, 2012 EchoStar 103 degree orbital location member	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar 103 degree orbital location member	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar 103 degree orbital location member	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Tax Sharing Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar 2012 TT&C Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar DBSD North America Agreement Item	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar DBSD North America Agreement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Application Development Agreement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar XIP Encryption Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar XIP Encryption Agreement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Sep. 30, 2010 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar 2012 Receiver Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar 2012 Receiver Agreement	Dec. 31, 2011 EchoStar 2012 Receiver Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Product Support Agreement Minimum	Jan. 31, 2010 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement Item	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement Minimum	Feb. 23, 2010 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement Minimum	Feb. 23, 2010 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2011 EchoStar Patent Cross-License Agreements Maximum	Sep. 30, 2012 EchoStar Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar El Paso Lease Agreement Item	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Radio Access Network Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar Radio Access Network Agreement	May 31, 2013 EchoStar EchoStar XV	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar EchoStar XV	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar Prior TT&C Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar Prior Receiver Agreement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar T2 Development Agreement T2 satellite	Dec. 31, 2013 Blockbuster, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2012 Blockbuster, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2011 Blockbuster, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2013 NagraStar	Dec. 31, 2012 NagraStar	Dec. 31, 2011 NagraStar	Sep. 30, 2012 HNS Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 HNS Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 HNS Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement
Related Party Transactions
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			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														30 days	90 days		30 days																								30 days
Payments to the related party																														$ 23,000,000
Net book value of asset	35,848,000																													20,000,000
Capital distribution																														3,000,000
Purchased set-top boxes and other equipment from EchoStar																																										1,242,000,000	1,005,000,000	1,158,000,000
Net amount of the allocated tax attributes payable																																83,000,000
Maximum grants receivable																																									14,000,000
Cost of sales - equipment, services and other	91,902,000	97,965,000	80,372,000																																				3,000,000	7,000,000
Minimum required notice period for termination by the reporting entity																						60 days											60 days				180 days								60 days			120 days			120 days			120 days										60 days	60 days
Agreement term						10 years					5 years												10 years		15 years	10 years			10 years																	2 years			5 years			5 years
Agreement term from commencement of service date					4 years																						10 years				10 years
Number of DBS transponders available to receive services																									32		32
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
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																																		2													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	7,818,061,000	7,254,458,000	6,845,611,000																																																					0	32,000,000	1,000,000															0
Broadband equipment purchased from EchoStar																																																																										69,000,000	24,000,000
Purchases from NagraStar																																																																						91,712,000	72,549,000	77,705,000
Payments to third party																																																							10,000,000
Amounts payable to NagraStar	355,023,000	281,867,000																																																																				23,417,000	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															517,000,000	200,000,000
Litigation settlement number of annual installments																6
Percentage of litigation settlement amount to be made by related party																95.00%
Reversal of litigation accrual														335,000,000
Settlement payment														290,000,000
Portion of litigation payment related to periods prior to 2011														182,000,000
Portion of litigation payment related to future period prepayments														108,000,000
Dish Network's share of remaining litigation payments														190,000,000
Litigation settlement gross amount related to future periods														298,000,000
Reduction in litigation expense														6,000,000
Property and equipment capitalization																																																												13,000,000	3,000,000
Amount paid for related party transaction																	5,000,000																																																		1,000,000	2,000,000	2,000,000
Net payment for agreement settlement			114,150,000							114,000,000
Option given to the related party for acquisition of property, plant and equipment																																																																		$ 55,000,000
Notice period to exercise option to extend agreement																																					180 days					180 days
Ownership percentage				67.00%
Related party ownership interest in subsidiary (as a percentage)				33.00%