Condensed Consolidating Financial Statements (Statement of Operations) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2018
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 3,295	$ 3,263	$ 11,271	$ 10,490
Costs and expenses:
Operating	2,078	1,922	7,335	6,506
Selling, general and administrative	584	549	1,702	1,605
Depreciation and amortization	52	56	158	168
Restructuring charges, merger-related costs and other corporate matters	80	46	201	90
Gain on sale of assets	0	0	(549)	0
Total costs and expenses	2,794	2,573	8,847	8,369
Operating income (loss)	501	690	2,424	2,121
Interest (expense) income, net	(102)	(103)	(308)	(306)
Other items, net	(24)	(17)	(66)	(52)
Earnings (loss) before income taxes and equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies	375	570	2,050	1,763
Benefit (provision) for income taxes	(33)	(64)	344	(312)
Equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies, net of tax	(23)	(18)	(52)	(52)
Net earnings	319	488	2,342	1,399
Total comprehensive income	323	500	2,375	1,427
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Revenues	0	0	0	0
Costs and expenses:
Operating	0	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation and amortization	0	0	0	0
Restructuring charges, merger-related costs and other corporate matters	0	0	0	0
Gain on sale of assets			0
Total costs and expenses	0	0	0	0
Operating income (loss)	0	0	0	0
Interest (expense) income, net	0	0	0	0
Other items, net	0	0	0	0
Earnings (loss) before income taxes and equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies	0	0	0	0
Benefit (provision) for income taxes	0	0	0	0
Equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies, net of tax	(742)	(1,001)	(3,333)	(2,888)
Net earnings	(742)	(1,001)	(3,333)	(2,888)
Total comprehensive income	(733)	(1,000)	(3,318)	(2,872)
CBS Corp. [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Revenues	42	47	131	134
Costs and expenses:
Operating	25	25	75	73
Selling, general and administrative	7	11	33	36
Depreciation and amortization	1	1	3	3
Restructuring charges, merger-related costs and other corporate matters	(3)	0	0	0
Gain on sale of assets			0
Total costs and expenses	30	37	111	112
Operating income (loss)	12	10	20	22
Interest (expense) income, net	(137)	(133)	(412)	(396)
Other items, net	(8)	(7)	(26)	(23)
Earnings (loss) before income taxes and equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies	(133)	(130)	(418)	(397)
Benefit (provision) for income taxes	25	27	86	82
Equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies, net of tax	427	591	2,674	1,714
Net earnings	319	488	2,342	1,399
Total comprehensive income	323	500	2,375	1,427
CBS Operations Inc. [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Revenues	2	2	7	7
Costs and expenses:
Operating	1	1	3	3
Selling, general and administrative	151	58	276	190
Depreciation and amortization	4	5	14	16
Restructuring charges, merger-related costs and other corporate matters	78	46	108	71
Gain on sale of assets			0
Total costs and expenses	234	110	401	280
Operating income (loss)	(232)	(108)	(394)	(273)
Interest (expense) income, net	(140)	(130)	(408)	(378)
Other items, net	(3)	(4)	(23)	8
Earnings (loss) before income taxes and equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies	(375)	(242)	(825)	(643)
Benefit (provision) for income taxes	56	50	152	133
Equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies, net of tax	315	410	659	1,174
Net earnings	(4)	218	(14)	664
Total comprehensive income	(1)	218	(8)	666
Non-Guarantor Affiliates [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Revenues	3,251	3,214	11,133	10,349
Costs and expenses:
Operating	2,052	1,896	7,257	6,430
Selling, general and administrative	426	480	1,393	1,379
Depreciation and amortization	47	50	141	149
Restructuring charges, merger-related costs and other corporate matters	5	0	93	19
Gain on sale of assets			(549)
Total costs and expenses	2,530	2,426	8,335	7,977
Operating income (loss)	721	788	2,798	2,372
Interest (expense) income, net	175	160	512	468
Other items, net	(13)	(6)	(17)	(37)
Earnings (loss) before income taxes and equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies	883	942	3,293	2,803
Benefit (provision) for income taxes	(114)	(141)	106	(527)
Equity in earnings (loss) of investee companies, net of tax	(23)	(18)	(52)	(52)
Net earnings	746	783	3,347	2,224
Total comprehensive income	$ 734	$ 782	$ 3,326	$ 2,206