Equity and Long-Term Incentive Plans (Stock Option Award Activity) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Vested, Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value	$ 14.90
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Fair Value Assumptions, Expected Volatility Rate	30.18%
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Vested and Expected to Vest, Outstanding, Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term	5 years 9 months
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Fair Value Assumptions, Risk Free Interest Rate	1.25%
Cablevision and MSG Employees [Domain]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-based Compensation Arrangements by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period, Weighted Average Exercise Price	$ 17.88	$ 13.62
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Weighted Average Exercise Price		$ 17.88	$ 15.81
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term		157 days	1 year 51 days
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Intrinsic Value		$ 7,659	$ 12,566
Cablevision and MSG Employees [Domain] \| Share-based Compensation Award, Tranche One [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Number		134,833	229,497
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period	(134,833)	(94,664)
Cablevision and MSG Employees [Domain] \| Share-based Compensation Award, Tranche Two [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Number			32,500
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period		(32,500)
Parent Company [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-based Compensation Arrangements by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period, Weighted Average Exercise Price		$ 16.93
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Weighted Average Exercise Price	$ 48.26		$ 16.93
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term	9 years 288 days		1 year 99 days
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Intrinsic Value	$ 1,585		$ 658
Share-based Compensation Arrangements by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Grants in Period, Weighted Average Exercise Price	$ 48.26
Parent Company [Member] \| Share-based Compensation Award, Tranche One [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Outstanding, Number	388,385		14,045
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period		(14,045)
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Grants in Period, Gross	388,385

The estimated measure of the percentage by which a share price is expected to fluctuate during a period. Volatility also may be defined as a probability-weighted measure of the dispersion of returns about the mean. The volatility of a share price is the standard deviation of the continuously compounded rates of return on the share over a specified period. That is the same as the standard deviation of the differences in the natural logarithms of the stock prices plus dividends, if any, over the period.

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-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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The risk-free interest rate assumption that is used in valuing an option on its own shares.

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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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Gross number of share options (or share units) granted during the period.

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Amount by which the current fair value of the underlying stock exceeds the exercise price of options outstanding.

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Number of options outstanding, including both vested and non-vested options.

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Weighted average price at which option holders acquired shares when converting their stock options into shares.

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Weighted average remaining contractual term for option awards outstanding, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Weighted average remaining contractual term for fully vested and expected to vest options outstanding, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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