Marketable Investment Securities, Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents, and Other Investment Securities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Feb. 28, 2017
Marketable Investment Securities, Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents and Other Investment Securities:
Current marketable investment securities	$ 132,593
Restricted marketable investment securities		$ 390
Total marketable investment securities	132,593	390
Restricted cash and cash equivalents	58,323	60,677
Other investment securities	97,306	106,874
Total other investment securities	97,306	106,874
Total marketable investment securities, restricted cash and cash equivalents, and other investment securities	$ 288,222	$ 167,941
Maximum maturities of commercial paper	365 days
Maximum maturities of corporate securities	18 months
NagraStar L.L.C
Marketable Investment Securities, Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents and Other Investment Securities:
Ownership interest in equity method investment			50.00%
NagraStar L.L.C
Marketable Investment Securities, Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents and Other Investment Securities:
Ownership interest in equity method investment	50.00%

Maximum maturities of commercial paper.

No definition available.

Name:	ddbs_CommercialPaperMaturitiesMaximum
Namespace Prefix:	ddbs_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum maturities of corporate securities.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ddbs_CorporateSecuritiesMaturitiesMaximum
Namespace Prefix:	ddbs_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Marketable investment securities, restricted cash and cash equivalent and other investment securities.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ddbs_MarketableInvestmentSecuritiesRestrictedCashAndCashEquivalentsAndOtherInvestmentSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	ddbs_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The amount of marketable securities pledged as collateral noncurrent.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ddbs_MarketableSecuritiesPledgedAsCollateralNoncurrent
Namespace Prefix:	ddbs_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=114001798&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents the carrying amount on the entity's balance sheet of its investment in common stock of an equity method investee. This is not an indicator of the fair value of the investment, rather it is the initial cost adjusted for the entity's share of earnings and losses of the investee, adjusted for any distributions (dividends) and other than temporary impairment (OTTI) losses recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109237563&loc=d3e33749-111570

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 25
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120311839&loc=d3e8813-108599

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.12)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentsDebtAndEquitySecuritiesAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of investment in marketable security.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03.4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120398452&loc=d3e534808-122878

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_MarketableSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in marketable security, classified as current.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (f)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121566466&loc=d3e6676-107765

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_MarketableSecuritiesCurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investments classified as other.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherInvestments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of cash and cash equivalents restricted as to withdrawal or usage. Cash includes, but is not limited to, currency on hand, demand deposits with banks or financial institutions, and other accounts with general characteristics of demand deposits. Cash equivalents include, but are not limited to, short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03(a)(2))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120400017&loc=d3e572229-122910

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121583591&loc=SL98516268-108586

Reference 4: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(1)(a))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120398452&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 5: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 4
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121586364&loc=d3e3044-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalents
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	srt_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=ddbs_NagrastarLlcMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=ddbs_NagrastarLlcMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: