Related Party Transactions (Details 5) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		0 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Aug. 01, 2014 DISH Digital Holding LLC	Jul. 01, 2012 DISH Digital Holding LLC	Aug. 01, 2014 Exchange Agreement DISH Digital Holding LLC	Apr. 29, 2011 EchoStar TiVo v. Dish Network and EchoStar Corporation item	Jan. 31, 2012 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2014 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2014 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar Tax Sharing Agreement Dish Network	Sep. 30, 2013 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Sep. 30, 2010 EchoStar RUS Implementation Agreement	Dec. 31, 2011 EchoStar Patent Cross-License Agreements Dish Network Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 EchoStar Patent Cross-License Agreements Dish Network Maximum
Related Party Transactions
Notice period to exercise option to extend agreement												1 year
Notice period required to extend the agreement term									180 days
Minimum notice period for termination of agreement												60 days
Purchased set-top boxes and other equipment from EchoStar										$ 293,000,000	$ 341,000,000	$ 883,000,000	$ 947,000,000
Net amount of the allocated tax attributes payable														83,000,000
Maximum grants receivable																14,000,000
Cost of sales - equipment, services and other	24,240,000	24,073,000	80,451,000	64,789,000											3,000,000
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 annually								95.00%
Payments to third party by related party																	10,000,000
Payments to third party by related party under extension option																		3,000,000
Ownership percentage					90.00%	67.00%
Related party ownership interest in subsidiary (as a percent)					10.00%	33.00%
Voting interest (as a percent)					100.00%
Non-voting interest (as a percent)							10.00%
Capital distribution, net of deferred taxes					6,000,000
Deemed distribution, net of deferred taxes					$ 14,000,000