Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended									1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Digital	Dec. 31, 2012 EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2011 Patent Cross-License Agreements	Dec. 31, 2012 Sprint Settlement Agreement	Oct. 03, 2012 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Feb. 29, 2012 DBSD North America Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DBSD North America Agreement item	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network DISH Digital	Apr. 30, 2011 DISH Network TiVo vs. Dish Network and Echostar Corporation item	Apr. 29, 2011 DISH Network TiVo vs. Dish Network and Echostar Corporation	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Prior receiver agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network 2012 Receiver Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Broadcast Agreement	May 31, 2010 DISH Network Broadcast Agreement for Certain Sports Related Programming	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2009 DISH Network EchoStar XVI	Sep. 30, 2012 DISH Network DISH Telesat Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network DISH Telesat Agreement item	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network TT&C Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Inverness Lease Agreement	Dec. 31, 2008 DISH Network Varick Sublease Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Santa Fe Lease Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Gilbert Lease Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Product Support Agreement	Nov. 30, 2012 DISH Network DISHOnline.com Services Agreement	Jan. 31, 2010 DISH Network DISHOnline.com Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network DISHOnline.com Services Agreement item	Feb. 28, 2010 DISH Network DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Feb. 28, 2010 DISH Network SlingService Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network SlingService Services Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 DISH Network Management Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Management Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Satellite capacity leased from Dish Network	Dec. 31, 2011 DISH Network Satellite capacity leased from Dish Network	Dec. 31, 2010 DISH Network Satellite capacity leased from Dish Network	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network RUS Service Implementation Agreement	Mar. 09, 2012 DISH Network DBSD North America Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network El Paso Lease Agreement item	Jan. 31, 2012 DISH Network Professional Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Professional Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network QuetzSat-1 Transponder item	Dec. 31, 2008 DISH Network QuetzSat-1 Transponder item	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network Remanufactured Receiver Agreement	Dec. 31, 2011 DISH Network Remanufactured Receiver Agreement	Dec. 31, 2010 DISH Network Remanufactured Receiver Agreement	Dec. 31, 2009 Telesat Canada Nimiq 5 Agreement item	Dec. 31, 2008 SES	Dec. 31, 2008 SES QuetzSat-1 Lease Agreement item	Dec. 31, 2012 Hughes Systique Corporation	Dec. 31, 2012 NagraStar	Dec. 31, 2011 NagraStar	Dec. 31, 2010 NagraStar	Dec. 31, 2012 Dish Mexico	Dec. 31, 2011 Dish Mexico	Dec. 31, 2010 Dish Mexico	Dec. 31, 2012 Deluxe	Dec. 31, 2011 Deluxe	Dec. 31, 2009 Joint Venture in Taiwan	Dec. 31, 2011 Joint Venture in Taiwan	Dec. 31, 2010 Joint Venture in Taiwan	Apr. 30, 2011 Blockbuster	Sep. 30, 2010 DISH Broadband RUS Service Implementation Agreement Maximum
Related party transactions
Minimum required notice period for termination of agreement by related party															60 days	180 days	60 days						60 days	6 months				60 days			120 days		120 days		120 days		180 days															10 years
Agreement term								5 years	5 years	1 year								10 years							7 years					2 years		5 years		5 years		1 year								1 year							15 years	10 years
Agreement term from commencement of service date																			4 years	10 years	10 years
Additional term of renewal option																			5 years
Number of DBS transponders available to receive services																						32																													32
Number of DBS transponders expected to receive services																																																					32
Number of DBS transponders currently receiving services																																															24
Number of DBS transponders currently receiving services subleased back from related party																																														5
Automatic renewal period									1 year							1 year													1 year				1 year		1 year		1 year								1 year
Required minimum notice for termination of agreement									180 days		30 days																30 days										30 days								60 days
Required minimum notice for termination of individual service																																													30 days
Required notice period for termination by the reporting entity																																									45 days							60 days
Number of successive three year renewal options																																											4
Grants receivable by related party																																																																			$ 14,000,000
Term of renewal option					6 years						1 year								6 years							1 year					1 year												3 years																							1 year
Equity interest in joint venture				33.00%
Number of successive one year renewal options											4																				3
Fees included in Cost of sales-services and other																																						8,000,000	22,000,000	19,000,000
Intellectual property liability contribution														5,000,000
Ownership interest in related party (as a percent)																																																						45.00%	50.00%						50.00%
Ownership interest acquired by related party (as a percent)												67.00%																														100.00%
Maximum aggregate payments required under cross license agreements						10,000,000
Maximum additional aggregate payments required under cross license agreements if options are exercised						3,000,000
Net payment for resolving all disputed issues							114,000,000
Ownership percentage by related party																																																						26.00%
Purchases from related party																																																3,500,000	100,000	3,100,000					13,024,000	16,771,000	18,557,000
Amount payable to related party	26,960,000	16,374,000																																																					2,694,000	2,965,000
Commitments to purchase from NagraStar																																																							7,303,000	2,731,000
Settlement amount													500,000,000
Related party joint venture
Related Party Transaction, Cash Provided																																																															18,000,000
Line of credit provided to joint venture																																																															18,000,000
Impairment of joint venture investment																																																																	14,000,000
Ownership percentage in joint venture not to be sold																																																																5.00%
Portion of the $300 million initial settlement agreement payment allocated to EchoStar													10,000,000
Initial settlement amount paid													300,000,000
Aggregate of six annual installment amounts between 2012 and 2017														200,000,000
Litigation settlement, number of annual installments													6
Estimated percentage of annual future payments payable by EchoStar													5.00%
Digital set-top boxes and related accessories																																																										58,097,000	62,964,000	80,910,000
Sales of satellite services																																																										13,320,000	8,520,000	8,520,000
Uplink services																																																										9,144,000	8,137,000	368,000
Other services																																																										640,000
Amount receivable from related party	281,845,000	229,852,000																																																								11,699,000	8,594,000
Amount of equipment and service revenue provided to related party	515,176,000	496,636,000	468,399,000																																																										1,600,000	200,000
Receivables from related party																																																													$ 800,000	$ 200,000