Property and Equipment and Intangible Assets - Additional Information (Details)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018 item
EchoStar XV
Property and equipment
Estimated Useful Life	15 years
EchoStar XVI
Property and equipment
Term of renewal option	5 years
EchoStar XVIII
Property and equipment
Estimated Useful Life	15 years
EchoStar XVIII, including capitalized interest
Property and equipment
Number of satellites utilized in geostationary orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator	12
Owned Satellites	2
Number of satellites utilized under operating lease	8
Number of satellites utilized under capital lease	2

Number of satellites in geostationary orbit utilized by reporting entity.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Number of satellites in geostationary orbit utilized by reporting entity owned.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Number of satellites in geostationary orbit utilized by reporting entity under capital leases.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Number of satellites in geostationary orbit utilized by reporting entity under operating leases.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Related party transactions agreement renewal option term.

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

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- Details

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