DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS, RELATED MATTERS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION (Policies)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011
DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS, RELATED MATTERS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION [Abstract]
Principles of Consolidation	Principles of Consolidation The accompanying consolidated financial statements of Cablevision include the accounts of Cablevision and its majority-owned subsidiaries and the accompanying consolidated financial statements of CSC Holdings include the accounts of CSC Holdings and its majority-owned subsidiaries. Cablevision has no business operations independent of its CSC Holdings subsidiary, whose operating results and financial position are consolidated into Cablevision. The consolidated balance sheets and statements of income for Cablevision are essentially identical to the consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statements of income for CSC Holdings, with the following significant exceptions: Cablevision has $2,166,966 of senior notes outstanding at December 31, 2011 (excluding the $753,717 aggregate principal amount of Cablevision senior notes held by its subsidiary Newsday Holdings LLC discussed in Note 11) that were issued to third party investors, cash, deferred financing costs and accrued interest related to its senior notes, deferred taxes and accrued dividends on its balance sheet and CSC Holdings and its subsidiaries have certain intercompany receivables from Cablevision.Differences between Cablevision's results of operations from those of CSC Holdings primarily include incremental interest expense, interest income, loss on extinguishment of debt, write-off of deferred financing costs, and income tax expense or benefit. CSC Holdings' results of operations include incremental interest income from the Cablevision senior notes held by Newsday Holdings LLC and the accretion of the discount on the 8% senior notes due 2012 issued by Cablevision to Newsday Holdings LLC that were redeemed during the second quarter of 2010 (which were replaced with the $753,717 aggregate principal amount of Cablevision notes discussed in Note 11), all of which eliminate in Cablevision's results of operations. The combined notes to the consolidated financial statements relate to the Company, which, except as noted, are essentially identical for Cablevision and CSC Holdings. All significant intercompany transactions and balances between Cablevision and CSC Holdings and their respective consolidated subsidiaries are eliminated in both sets of consolidated financial statements. Intercompany transactions between Cablevision and CSC Holdings do not eliminate in the CSC Holdings consolidated financial statements, but do eliminate in the Cablevision consolidated financial statements.
Use of Estimates in Preparation of Financial Statements	Use of Estimates in Preparation of Financial Statements The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. See Note 13 for a discussion on fair value estimates.
Reclassifications	Reclassifications Certain reclassifications have been made to the 2010 financial statements to conform to the 2011 presentation.

Describes an entity's accounting policy regarding (1) the principles it follows in consolidating or combining the separate financial statements, including the principles followed in determining the inclusion or exclusion of subsidiaries or other entities in the consolidated or combined financial statements and (2) its treatment of interests (for example common stock, a partnership interest or other means of exerting influence) in other entities, for example consolidation or use of the equity or cost methods of accounting. An entity also may describe its accounting treatment for intercompany accounts and transactions, noncontrolling interest, and the income statement treatment in consolidation for issuances of stock by a subsidiary.

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