Related Party Transactions - Narrative Part 4 (Details) $ in Thousands			1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Jan. 02, 2012	Apr. 29, 2011 USD ($) installment	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Cost of sales - equipment, services and other				$ 18,787	$ 24,240	$ 73,086	$ 80,451
Dish Network | TiVo v. Dish Network and EchoStar Corporation
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Settlement amount		$ 500,000
Initial settlement amount paid		300,000
Aggregate of six annual installment amounts between 2012 and 2017		$ 200,000
Estimated percentage of annual future payments payable by the company		95.00%
Litigation settlement number of annual installments | installment		6
Contribution from related party		$ 10,000
Receiver Agreement
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Agreement Renewal Option Term	1 year					1 year
Additional term of renewal option						1 year
Notice period required to extend the agreement term	180 days
gTLD Agreement [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Amount paid by related party transaction				1,000		$ 1,000
EchoStar | Receiver Agreement
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Minimum notice period for termination of agreement	60 days
Purchased set-top boxes and other equipment from EchoStar				$ 154,000	$ 293,000	$ 570,000	$ 883,000
EchoStar | Patent Cross-License Agreements | Dish Network | Maximum
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payments to third party by related party			$ 10,000
Payments to third party by related party under extension option			$ 3,000