Selected Quarterly Financial Data (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended												12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011		Sep. 30, 2011		Jun. 30, 2011		Mar. 31, 2011		Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2010	Mar. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Line Items]
Total revenues	$ 875,575,000		$ 821,839,000		$ 788,610,000		$ 718,553,000		$ 595,922,000	$ 553,219,000	$ 519,819,000	$ 493,665,000	$ 3,204,577,000	$ 2,162,625,000	$ 1,670,269,000
Gross profit	300,420,000		285,222,000		298,632,000		280,402,000		205,132,000	208,750,000	204,885,000	186,503,000	1,164,676,000	805,270,000	590,998,000
Net income	35,219,000	[1]	62,460,000	[1]	68,214,000	[1]	60,233,000	[1]	47,095,000	37,967,000	43,519,000	32,272,000	226,126,000	160,853,000	115,860,000
Basic	$ 0.66		$ 1.19		$ 1.30		$ 1.14		$ 0.90	$ 0.73	$ 0.83	$ 0.61	$ 4.28	$ 3.06	$ 2.05
Diluted	$ 0.64		$ 1.16		$ 1.26		$ 1.11		$ 0.87	$ 0.70	$ 0.80	$ 0.59	$ 4.16	$ 2.96	$ 1.98
Legal settlement	9,000,000												9,000,000
Termination benefits expense	9,500,000
Expected costs incurred for termination benefits to be paid in 1st quarter of 2012													1,800,000
Accrued Expenses [Member]
Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Line Items]
Expected costs incurred for termination benefits to be paid in 1st quarter of 2012													$ 4,900,000

[1] Net income for the three months ended December 31, 2011 includes $9.0 million of expense related to a legal settlement and $9.5 million of expense related to termination benefits associated with the Company's retraction of plans to separate and rebrand the DVD-by-mail service. An additional $1.8 million of expense related to these termination benefits is expected to be recognized in the first quarter of 2012. As of December 31, 2011, $4.9 million of the costs were included in "Accrued expenses" on the Consolidated Balance Sheet to be paid in the first quarter of 2012.