Composition of Certain Balance Sheet Captions - Composition of Certain Balance Sheet Captions (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Apr. 03, 2015	Apr. 04, 2014
Accounts receivable, net:
Accounts receivable, Billed	$ 120,345	$ 129,794
Accounts receivable, Unbilled	147,049	143,651
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(1,055)	(1,554)
Accounts receivable, net	266,339	271,891
Inventories:
Raw materials	42,716	42,786
Work in process	22,957	22,279
Finished goods	62,694	54,536
Inventories	128,367	119,601
Prepaid expenses and other current assets:
Prepaid expenses	40,106	41,341
Other	4,596	2,729
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	44,702	44,070
Other assets:
Capitalized software costs, net	119,936	91,022
Patents, orbital slots and other licenses, net	16,900	15,700
Deferred income taxes	75,789	110,711
Other	57,183	39,535
Other assets	269,808	256,968
Accrued liabilities:
Collections in excess of revenues and deferred revenues	83,528	69,127
Accrued employee compensation	27,953	23,954
Accrued vacation	25,859	22,550
Warranty reserve, current portion	9,235	9,368
Current portion of other long-term debt	260	1,856
Other	44,491	49,119
Accrued liabilities	191,326	175,974
Other liabilities:
Deferred revenue, long-term portion	4,894	10,097
Deferred rent, long-term portion	8,307	9,758
Warranty reserve, long-term portion	6,310	7,655
Deferred income taxes, long-term portion	363	816
Other liabilities	39,995	48,893
Property Plant and Equipment - Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	987,041	804,794
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(224,820)	(173,958)
Property and equipment, net	762,221	630,836
Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	878,550	781,752
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(460,528)	(360,086)
Property and equipment, net	418,022	421,666
Satellite Performance Incentives Obligation [Member]
Other liabilities:
Satellite performance incentives obligation, long-term portion	20,121	20,567
Satellite - WildBlue-1 [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	195,890	195,890
Capital lease of satellite capacity - Anik F2 [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	99,090	99,090
Satellite - ViaSat-1 [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	363,204	363,204
Construction in progress [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	328,857	146,610
Construction in progress [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	17,890	17,062
Equipment and software [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	511,717	452,197
CPE leased equipment [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	250,281	221,017
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(107,800)	(79,800)
Furniture and fixtures [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	20,395	18,773
Leasehold improvements [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	67,723	62,159
Building [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	8,923	8,923
Land [Member] | Property Plant and Equipment - Excluding Satellites [Member]
Property and equipment, net:
Property and equipment	$ 1,621	$ 1,621