Commitments and Contingencies (Details 2) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		0 Months Ended			9 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended						0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Jul. 25, 2014 Director Defendants other than Mr. Ergen and Mr. Clayton item	Jul. 25, 2014 Director Defendants other than Mr. Ergen item	Sep. 09, 2013 Garnet Digital item	Sep. 30, 2014 Satellite lease guarantees	Sep. 30, 2014 Satellite transponder guarantees	Oct. 11, 2012 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Dec. 29, 2010 ESPN-Affiliation agreements	Mar. 31, 2013 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	Dec. 11, 2011 Tse item	Sep. 30, 2014 Katz Communications-Patent infringement item patent	Dec. 31, 2007 Katz Communications-Patent infringement patent	Sep. 30, 2014 Norman IP Holdings item	May 24, 2012 The Hopper Litigation Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 LightSquared transaction shareholder derivative actions item	Sep. 30, 2014 Lightsquared Harbinger Capital Partners LLC	Jul. 08, 2014 Lightsquared Harbinger Capital Partners LLC Minimum	Sep. 30, 2014 Do Not Call Litigation	Dec. 23, 2013 Do Not Call Litigation DISH Network L.L.C.	Jul. 25, 2014 Jacksonville PFPF second amended complaint item	Sep. 30, 2014 Technology Development and Licensing L.L.C item	Mar. 31, 2012 Personalized Media Communications, Inc. Maximum	Mar. 31, 2012 Personalized Media Communications, Inc. Minimum
Loss contingencies
Guarantees for payments								$ 10,000,000	$ 327,000,000
Term of guarantee								P5M
Claim amount											30,000,000				35,000,000											500,000,000		270,000,000			650,000,000	500,000,000
Period of injunctive relief sought from placing any outbound telemarketing calls to market or promote its goods or services																											5 years
Number of claims asserted					3	1																							5
Court ruling																66,000,000		66,000,000
Attorneys' fees										5,000,000		71,000,000		24,000,000
Litigation accrual													71,000,000				42,000,000
Payment of accrued interest												12,000,000
General and administrative expenses	$ 196,376,000	$ 191,427,000	$ 589,149,000	$ 566,896,000									$ 5,000,000
Number of days to store HD primetime programs recordings																							8 days
Number of shareholders who filed lawsuits																								5
Loss contingency terms
Number of pending reexamination petitions																														2
Number of patents the suit alleges infringement of																					19
Number of patents remain in the lawsuit																				4
Number of reexamination petitions pending before patent and trademark office																				2
Number of judges in panel																			3
Number of companies against whom similar complaints brought							15
Business days allowed to terminate existing agreements																									3 days
Minimum number of autonomous streamlined signal processors																						1