Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended					1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			3 Months Ended			3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Jul. 02, 2012 DISH Digital	Mar. 31, 2014 EchoStar XVI	Dec. 31, 2011 Patent Cross-License Agreements	Oct. 31, 2012 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 Hughes Broadband Distribution Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DBSD North America Agreement item	Jul. 02, 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	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network 2012 Receiver Agreement	May 05, 2014 DISH Network 2012 Receiver Agreement Subsequent event	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Broadcast Agreement	May 31, 2010 DISH Network Broadcast Agreement for Certain Sports Related Programming	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network EchoStar VIII capacity leased to Dish Network	Dec. 31, 2012 DISH Network EchoStar XVI	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network EchoStar XVI	Mar. 02, 2014 DISH Network Satellite and Tracking Stock Transaction	Feb. 28, 2014 DISH Network Satellite and Tracking Stock Transaction	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, 2012 DISH Network Service agreement to lease certain satellite capacity Ciel	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network TT&C Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Inverness Lease Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Santa Fe Lease Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Gilbert Lease Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Product Support Agreement	Nov. 30, 2013 DISH Network DISH Online.com Services Agreement	Jan. 31, 2010 DISH Network DISH Online.com Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network DISH Online.com Services Agreement item	Feb. 28, 2010 DISH Network DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network DISH Remote Access Services Agreement	Feb. 28, 2010 DISH Network SlingService Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network SlingService Services Agreement	Mar. 09, 2012 DISH Network DBSD North America Agreement	May 31, 2013 DISH Network EchoStar XV capacity leased from Dish Network	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Remanufactured Receiver Agreement	Sep. 30, 2013 DISH Network Tax Sharing Agreement Other receivable	Jun. 30, 2013 DISH Network Tax Sharing Agreement Noncurrent deferred tax liabilities	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Set-Top Box Application Development Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network XiP Encryption Agreement	Dec. 31, 2009 DISH Network DISH Telesat Agreement item	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network El Paso Lease Agreement item	Jan. 31, 2013 DISH Network Professional Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network Professional Services Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 DISH Network QuetzSat-1 Transponder item	Sep. 30, 2012 DISH Network QuetzSat-1 Transponder item	Dec. 31, 2009 Telesat Canada Nimiq 5 Agreement item	Dec. 31, 2008 SES Latin America QuetzSat-1 Lease Agreement item	Mar. 31, 2014 Hughes Systique Corporation	Feb. 29, 2008 Hughes Systique Corporation HNS	Dec. 31, 2009 Hughes Systique Corporation HNS	May 31, 2014 Hughes Systique Corporation HNS Subsequent event	Mar. 31, 2014 NagraStar	Mar. 31, 2013 NagraStar	Dec. 31, 2013 NagraStar	Mar. 31, 2014 Dish Mexico	Mar. 31, 2013 Dish Mexico	Dec. 31, 2013 Dish Mexico	Mar. 31, 2014 Deluxe	Mar. 31, 2013 Deluxe	Dec. 31, 2013 Deluxe	Sep. 30, 2010 DISH Broadband RUS Service Implementation Agreement Maximum
Related party transactions
Minimum required notice period for termination of agreement by related party									30 days				60 days		60 days		30 days								60 days				60 days			120 days		120 days		120 days		30 days					30 days
Agreement term							5 years		1 year							10 years								10 years						1 year	2 years		5 years		5 years											1 year				15 years	10 years
Agreement term from commencement of service date																		4 years																										10 years
Additional term of renewal option													1 year	1 year					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	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
Required minimum notice for termination of agreement								180 days																		6 months		30 days														90 days					60 days
Required minimum notice for termination of individual service																																															30 days
Required minimum notice period for termination of agreement by the reporting entity																	30 days																					30 days	60 days				180 days
Number of successive three year renewal options																																													4
Grants receivable by related party																																																																	$ 14,100,000
Number of owned satellites transferred																						5	5
Liabilities Assumed	18,000,000																			58,900,000
Cash																					11,404,000
Term of renewal option					6 years				1 year										6 years								1 year																1 year		3 years
Minimum notice period required to extend the agreement term													180 days																														180 days
Number of successive one year renewal options									2																							3
Amount agreed to be funded under term loan facility																																																					1,500,000
Amount funded																																																					500,000	1,000,000
Interest rate (as a percent)																																																					6.00%		8.00%
Ownership interest in related party (as a percent)																																																				44.40%				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
Ownership percentage by related party																																																				26.10%
Purchases from related party																																																								3,145,000	4,314,000
Amount payable to related party		83,920,000	55,743,000																																																					1,351,000		1,211,000
Commitments to purchase from NagraStar																																																								7,827,000		5,874,000
Federal tax benefits reflected as a deferred tax asset for depreciation and amortization																																									82,800,000
Net amount of the allocated tax attributes receivable		90,083,000	89,811,000																																					82,800,000
Settlement amount											500,000,000
Portion of the $300 million initial settlement agreement payment paid by 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																																																											8,399,000	15,393,000
Sales of satellite services																																																											5,837,000	4,787,000
Uplink services																																																											1,705,000	1,479,000
Amount receivable from related party		379,470,000	355,135,000																																																								6,079,000		3,506,000
Revenue recognized from equipment and services provided to related party																																																														900,000	400,000
Receivables from related party																																																														$ 1,400,000		$ 1,100,000
Equity interest in joint venture				33.00%