Employee Benefit Plans - 401(k) Employee Savings Plans (Details) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
EchoStar 401(k) Plan
Employee benefit plans
Maximum contribution limit	75.00%
Employer matching contribution as a percentage of voluntary employee contributions under 401(k) plan (as a percent)	50.00%
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 50% by employer	6.00%
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100% by employer	3.00%
Employer maximum annual contribution per employee under 401(k) plan	$ 7,500
Vesting percentage of matching contributions to eligible employees per year	20.00%
Vesting percentage of matching contributions to eligible employees after specified period of service	100.00%
Eligibility for employer matching contributions, period of service	5 years
EchoStar 401(k) Plan \| Class A common stock
Employee benefit plans
Matching contributions made by the company during the year	$ 5,000,000	$ 5,000,000	$ 6,000,000
Discretionary contributions, net of forfeitures, fair value, under 401(k) plan	$ 8,000,000	$ 7,000,000	$ 8,000,000
Discretionary contributions, shares, under 401(k) plan (in shares)	127,000	130,000	210,500
Roth 401(k) Plan
Employee benefit plans
Maximum contribution limit	75.00%

The period of service required for eligibility for matching contributions by the employer.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Represents the first level of employee contributions (percentage of compensation) which are matched by the employer.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Represents the second level of employee contributions (percentage of compensation) which are matched by the employer.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Percentage of employer's matching contributions to a defined contribution plan that vests in a given year after a specified period of service.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of cost for defined contribution plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 70
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49170846&loc=d3e28014-114942

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- Definition

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.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of discretionary contributions made by an employer to a defined contribution plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Percentage employer matches of the employee's percentage contribution matched.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Percentage of employer's matching contributions to a defined contribution plan that vests in a given year.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Maximum amount the employee may contribute to a defined contribution plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Maximum percentage of employee gross pay the employee may contribute to a defined contribution plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Number of shares issued during the period to an employee benefit plan, such as a defined contribution or defined benefit plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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