Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended								3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended				12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended				0 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013	Jul. 02, 2012 DISH Digital Holding LLC	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2009 EchoStar XVI	Mar. 31, 2014 Gilbert Lease Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 Santa Fe Lease Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 Inverness Lease Agreement	Oct. 02, 2012 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement Minimum	Feb. 20, 2014 Transaction Agreement DISH Investors	Apr. 29, 2011 EchoStar TiVo vs Dish Network and EchoStar Corporation item	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar Remanufactured Receiver Agreement	Jan. 02, 2014 EchoStar Professional Services Agreement	Jan. 02, 2014 EchoStar Professional Services Agreement Minimum	May 31, 2013 EchoStar EchoStar VIII	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar 2012 Broadcast Agreement Minimum	May 31, 2010 EchoStar Certain Sports Related Programming Broadcast Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 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	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar 103 degree orbital location member	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Tax Sharing Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar 2012 TT&C Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar DBSD North America Agreement item	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar DBSD North America Agreement Minimum	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar Application Development Agreement Minimum	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XIP Encryption Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XIP Encryption Agreement Minimum	Mar. 31, 2013 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Sep. 30, 2010 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar 2012 Receiver Agreement	Mar. 31, 2013 EchoStar 2012 Receiver Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar 2012 Receiver Agreement Minimum	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar Product Support Agreement Minimum	Jan. 31, 2010 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement item	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar DISH Online.com Services Agreement Minimum	Feb. 23, 2010 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar DISH Remote Access Services Agreement Minimum	Feb. 23, 2010 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar Sling Service Services Agreement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2011 EchoStar Patent Cross-License Agreements Maximum	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Mar. 31, 2013 EchoStar Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar El Paso Lease Agreement item	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar Radio Access Network Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar Radio Access Network Agreement	May 31, 2013 EchoStar EchoStar XV	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar T2 Development Agreement T2 satellite	Dec. 31, 2013 EchoStar T2 Development Agreement T2 satellite	Feb. 20, 2014 EchoStar Transaction Agreement DISH Investors	Mar. 31, 2014 NagraStar	Mar. 31, 2013 NagraStar	Mar. 31, 2014 HNS Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Mar. 31, 2013 HNS Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Feb. 20, 2014 EchoStar and HSSC Transaction Agreement	Feb. 20, 2014 EchoStar and HSSC Investor Rights Agreement DISH Investors	Feb. 20, 2014 HSSC Transaction Agreement DISH Investors
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
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
Purchased set-top boxes and other equipment from EchoStar																																					$ 294,000,000	$ 297,000,000
Net amount of the allocated tax attributes payable																												83,000,000
Maximum grants receivable																																				14,000,000
Cost of sales - equipment, services and other	27,793,000	21,800,000																																	1,000,000
Minimum required notice period for termination by the reporting entity																			60 days										60 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
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
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	2,069,132,000	1,911,593,000																																																	15,000,000	3,000,000
Broadband equipment purchased from EchoStar																																																														10,000,000	10,000,000
Purchases from NagraStar																																																												20,203,000	22,019,000
Payments to third party																																																		10,000,000
Amounts payable to NagraStar	379,467,000		355,023,000																																																									16,687,000	23,417,000
Property and equipment capitalization																																																						15,000,000	13,000,000
Option given to the related party for acquisition of property, plant and equipment																																																										55,000,000
Percentage of economic interest in the Hughes Retail Group													80.00%
Tracking stock prohibited transfer period																																																																	1 year
Notice period to exercise option to extend agreement																																	180 days				180 days
Notice period for extension of agreement																																					1 year
Transfer of liabilities	44,540,000																																																															59,000,000
Ownership percentage				67.00%
Related party ownership interest in subsidiary (as a percentage)				33.00%
Settlement amount														500,000,000
Initial settlement amount paid														300,000,000
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
Contribution from related party														10,000,000
Percentage of litigation settlement amount to be made by related party														95.00%
Reimbursements received under agreement																																																									16,000,000
Historical cost of tracking stock	316,204,000																																																										229,000,000							87,000,000
Capital transaction																																																																356,000,000
Cash in exchange for shares of series of preferred tracking stock issued																																																																11,000,000
Capital transaction recorded in additional paid-in capital	$ 51,466,000																																																															$ 51,000,000