Property and Equipment and FCC Authorizations (Details 3) (USD $)	9 Months Ended							9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014 item	Dec. 31, 2013	Apr. 29, 2014 Wireless segment	Sep. 30, 2014 DBS Licenses	Dec. 31, 2013 DBS Licenses	Sep. 30, 2014 700 MHz Licenses	Dec. 31, 2013 700 MHz Licenses	Sep. 30, 2014 MVDDS Licenses item	Dec. 31, 2013 MVDDS Licenses	Sep. 30, 2014 AWS-4 Licenses	Dec. 31, 2013 AWS-4 Licenses	Sep. 30, 2014 H Block Licenses
Property and Equipment and FCC Authorizations
FCC authorizations	$ 4,968,171,000	$ 3,296,665,000		$ 611,794,000	$ 611,794,000	$ 711,871,000	$ 711,871,000	$ 24,000,000	$ 24,000,000	$ 1,949,000,000	$ 1,949,000,000	$ 1,671,506,000
Number of geographical license areas	214							82
Additional license term								4 years
Amount of carrying value to be written-off on termination of license								$ 24,000,000
Number of wireless spectrum licenses			176