Property and Equipment (Details 4) (USD $)			0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended							1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended				6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended							1 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Mar. 02, 2014 DISH Network Satellite and Tracking Stock Transaction EchoStar and HSSC item	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Satellite and Tracking Stock Transaction EchoStar and HSSC item	May 31, 2013 DISH Network EchoStar XV capacity leased from Dish Network	Mar. 31, 2014 Satellites item	Mar. 31, 2014 SPACEWAY 3	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XVII item	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar III	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar VI	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar VII	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar VIII	May 31, 2013 EchoStar VIII DISH Network	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XII	Jun. 30, 2013 EchoStar XII	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar IX	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar X item	Sep. 30, 2010 EchoStar X item	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XI	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XIV	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XVI	Mar. 31, 2014 AMC-15	Mar. 31, 2014 AMC-16	Mar. 31, 2014 Nimiq 5	Mar. 31, 2014 QuetzSat-1	Apr. 30, 2014 EUTELSAT 65 West A Subsequent event
Property and equipment
Number of satellites utilized in geostationary orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator						17
Number of satellites utilized under capital lease						4
Depreciable Life							12 years	15 years	12 years	12 years	3 years	12 years		2 years		12 years	7 years		9 years	11 years	15 years	10 years	10 years	15 years	10 years	15 years
Number of patents infringed								3
Number of owned satellites transferred			5	5
Minimum notice period required for termination of lease agreement					30 days								30 days
Carrying amount	$ 3,004,534,000	$ 2,546,377,000
Impairment charge															$ 34,700,000
Number of solar array circuits affected																		7
Number of functional solar array circuits																	17