Variable Interest Entities (Details)		1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
		Jul. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) station	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents				$ 41,091,000	$ 43,920,000	$ 71,618,000	$ 24,244,000
Trade accounts receivable (less allowance for doubtful accounts 2015 - $94; 2014 - $99)				298,474,000	277,985,000
Prepaid expenses and other current assets				15,083,000	26,282,000
Total current assets				354,648,000	468,090,000
Property and equipment, net				470,537,000	499,472,000
Other assets, net				70,314,000	78,999,000
Definite lived intangible assets, net				871,129,000	956,300,000
Broadcast licenses				1,097,100,000	1,097,100,000
Goodwill				1,544,624,000	1,597,486,000
Total assets	[1]			4,408,352,000	4,697,447,000
Current liabilities:
Trade accounts payable				35,800,000	36,359,000
Other accrued expenses and other current liabilities				95,500,000	104,092,000
Current installments of long-term debt				3,804,000	11,781,000
Total current liabilities				157,428,000	189,681,000
Long-term debt				2,231,354,000	2,400,162,000
Other liabilities				34,920,000	38,034,000
Total liabilities	[2]			2,935,935,000	3,162,545,000
Allowance for doubtful accounts				4,634,000	5,475,000
Receipt of dividend				$ 0	0
JSA and SSA entities [Member]
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Number of stations | station				8
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents				$ 3,693,000	3,846,000
Trade accounts receivable (less allowance for doubtful accounts 2015 - $94; 2014 - $99)				9,798,000	10,442,000
Prepaid expenses and other current assets				796,000	1,050,000
Total current assets				14,287,000	15,338,000
Property and equipment, net				1,904,000	5,402,000
Other assets, net				3,379,000	2,011,000
Definite lived intangible assets, net				32,244,000	34,885,000
Broadcast licenses				71,300,000	71,300,000
Goodwill				21,859,000	21,859,000
Total assets				144,973,000	150,795,000
Current liabilities:
Trade accounts payable				16,000	56,000
Other accrued expenses and other current liabilities				2,221,000	6,839,000
Current installments of long-term debt				3,804,000	3,562,000
Total current liabilities				6,041,000	10,457,000
Long-term debt				24,347,000	28,150,000
Other liabilities				8,310,000	3,914,000
Total liabilities				38,698,000	42,521,000
Allowance for doubtful accounts				94,000	$ 99,000
Threshold on media ownership rules, percentage (more than)			15.00%
Receipt of dividend		$ 9,000,000
Company Owned Option To Acquire Assets Or Equity [Member]
Current liabilities:
Carrying amount of ineligible options				$ 0

[1] Consolidated assets as of December 31, 2015, and 2014, include total assets of variable interest entities (VIEs) of $145 million and $151 million, respectively, which can only be used to settle the obligations of the VIEs. See Note 1: Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.

[2] Consolidated liabilities as of December 31, 2015, and 2014, include total liabilities of VIEs of $39 million and $43 million, respectively, for which the creditors of the VIEs have no recourse to the Company, except for certain of the debt, which the Company guarantees. See Note 1 and Note 4.