CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - Statement of Cash Flow (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
NET CASH FLOWS FROM(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES	$ 134,015	$ 113,852
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Acquisition of property and equipment	(25,851)	(23,648)
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired	(384,659)	(150)
Purchase of alarm monitoring contracts	(7,017)	(5,744)
Distributions from equity and costs method investees		4,152
Investments in equity and cost method investees	(19,874)	(2,945)
Loans to affiliates	(19,500)	0
Other, net	2,265	422
Net cash flows used in investing activities	(454,636)	(27,913)
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from notes payable and commercial bank financing	598,850	7,866
Repayments of notes payable, commercial bank financing and capital leases	(261,230)	(25,055)
Dividends paid on Class A and Class B common stock	(15,675)	(15,715)
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables	0
Repurchase of outstanding Class A Common Stock	0	(7,803)
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables		0
Other, net	(9,772)	(5,071)
Net cash flows from (used in) financing activities	312,173	(45,778)
NET (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS	(8,448)	40,161
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of period	149,972	17,682
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of period	141,524	57,843
Reportable legal entities \| Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
NET CASH FLOWS FROM(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES	823	8,824
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Acquisition of property and equipment	0	0
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired	0	0
Purchase of alarm monitoring contracts	0	0
Distributions from equity and costs method investees		1,425
Investments in equity and cost method investees	0	0
Loans to affiliates	0
Other, net	1,197	0
Net cash flows used in investing activities	1,197	1,425
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from notes payable and commercial bank financing	0	0
Repayments of notes payable, commercial bank financing and capital leases	0	(508)
Dividends paid on Class A and Class B common stock	(15,675)	(15,715)
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables	15,368
Repurchase of outstanding Class A Common Stock		(7,803)
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables		15,323
Other, net	(1,713)	(1,546)
Net cash flows from (used in) financing activities	(2,020)	(10,249)
NET (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS	0	0
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of period	0	0
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of period	0	0
Reportable legal entities \| Sinclair Television Group, Inc.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
NET CASH FLOWS FROM(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES	(20,655)	(25,325)
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Acquisition of property and equipment	(1,479)	(2,912)
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired	0	0
Purchase of alarm monitoring contracts	0	0
Distributions from equity and costs method investees		419
Investments in equity and cost method investees	(10,000)	(1,100)
Loans to affiliates	(19,500)
Other, net	0	0
Net cash flows used in investing activities	(30,979)	(3,593)
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from notes payable and commercial bank financing	595,000	0
Repayments of notes payable, commercial bank financing and capital leases	(257,682)	(23,514)
Dividends paid on Class A and Class B common stock	0	0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables	(290,337)
Repurchase of outstanding Class A Common Stock		0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables		84,589
Other, net	(5,800)	0
Net cash flows from (used in) financing activities	41,181	61,075
NET (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS	(10,453)	32,157
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of period	115,771	3,394
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of period	105,318	35,551
Reportable legal entities \| Guarantor Subsidiaries and KDSM, LLC
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
NET CASH FLOWS FROM(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES	145,404	139,443
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Acquisition of property and equipment	(23,239)	(20,309)
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired	(374,284)	(150)
Purchase of alarm monitoring contracts	0	0
Distributions from equity and costs method investees		0
Investments in equity and cost method investees	(47)	0
Loans to affiliates	0
Other, net	(210)	422
Net cash flows used in investing activities	(397,780)	(20,037)
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from notes payable and commercial bank financing	0	0
Repayments of notes payable, commercial bank financing and capital leases	(461)	56
Dividends paid on Class A and Class B common stock	0	0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables	262,392
Repurchase of outstanding Class A Common Stock		0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables		(120,275)
Other, net	263	0
Net cash flows from (used in) financing activities	262,194	(120,219)
NET (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS	9,818	(813)
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of period	235	1,749
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of period	10,053	936
Reportable legal entities \| Non- Guarantor Subsidiaries
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
NET CASH FLOWS FROM(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES	779	(13,488)
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Acquisition of property and equipment	(1,323)	(635)
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired	(10,375)	0
Purchase of alarm monitoring contracts	(7,017)	(5,744)
Distributions from equity and costs method investees		2,308
Investments in equity and cost method investees	(9,827)	(1,845)
Loans to affiliates	0
Other, net	1,278	0
Net cash flows used in investing activities	(27,264)	(5,916)
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from notes payable and commercial bank financing	3,850	7,866
Repayments of notes payable, commercial bank financing and capital leases	(3,087)	(1,089)
Dividends paid on Class A and Class B common stock	0	0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables	20,489
Repurchase of outstanding Class A Common Stock		0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables		24,969
Other, net	(2,580)	(3,525)
Net cash flows from (used in) financing activities	18,672	28,221
NET (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS	(7,813)	8,817
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of period	33,966	12,539
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of period	26,153	21,356
Eliminations
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
NET CASH FLOWS FROM(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES	7,664	4,398
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Acquisition of property and equipment	190	208
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired	0	0
Purchase of alarm monitoring contracts	0	0
Distributions from equity and costs method investees		0
Investments in equity and cost method investees	0	0
Loans to affiliates	0
Other, net	0	0
Net cash flows used in investing activities	190	208
CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from notes payable and commercial bank financing	0	0
Repayments of notes payable, commercial bank financing and capital leases	0	0
Dividends paid on Class A and Class B common stock	0	0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables	(7,912)
Repurchase of outstanding Class A Common Stock		0
Increase (decrease) in intercompany payables		(4,606)
Other, net	58	0
Net cash flows from (used in) financing activities	(7,854)	(4,606)
NET (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS	0	0
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of period	0	0
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of period	$ 0	$ 0

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The net cash outflow or inflow from other investing activities.

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Amount of currency on hand as well as demand deposits with banks or financial institutions. Includes other kinds of accounts that have the general characteristics of demand deposits. Also includes short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates. Excludes cash and cash equivalents within disposal group and discontinued operation.

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Amount of increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents are the amount of currency on hand as well as demand deposits with banks or financial institutions. Includes other kinds of accounts that have the general characteristics of demand deposits. Also includes short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates. Includes effect from exchange rate changes.

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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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Amount of cash inflow (outflow) from financing activities, including discontinued operations. Financing activity cash flows include obtaining resources from owners and providing them with a return on, and a return of, their investment; borrowing money and repaying amounts borrowed, or settling the obligation; and obtaining and paying for other resources obtained from creditors on long-term credit.

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Amount of cash inflow (outflow) from investing activities, including discontinued operations. Investing activity cash flows include making and collecting loans and acquiring and disposing of debt or equity instruments and property, plant, and equipment and other productive assets.

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The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of a business, net of the cash acquired from the purchase.

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The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of or advances to an entity that is related to it but not strictly controlled (for example, an unconsolidated subsidiary, affiliate, and joint venture or equity method investment) or the acquisition of an additional interest in a subsidiary (controlled entity).

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The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale; includes cash outflows to pay for construction of self-constructed assets.

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The cash outflow associated with extending a long-term loan to a related party. Alternate caption: Payments for Advances to Affiliates.

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Cash dividends or other distributions received from unconsolidated subsidiaries, certain corporate joint ventures, and certain noncontrolled corporations that are returns of capital. Excludes dividends or distributions from equity method investments classified as operating activities.

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The cash inflow from a debt initially having maturity due after one year or beyond the operating cycle, if longer.

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The net cash inflow or outflow from other financing activities. This element is used when there is not a more specific and appropriate element in the taxonomy.

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The cash outflow associated with security instruments that either represent a creditor or an ownership relationship with the holder of the investment security with a maturity of beyond one year or normal operating cycle, if longer. Includes repayments of (a) debt, (b) capital lease obligations, (c) mandatory redeemable capital securities, and (d) any combination of (a), (b), or (c).

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