Income Taxes (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Current tax expense:
U.S. federal	$ 1,296	$ 911	$ 980
Foreign	240	293	309
State and local	102	176	113
Total	1,638	1,380	1,402
Deferred tax expense (benefit):
U.S. federal	(56)	224	(25)
Foreign	38	34	63
State and local	53	(35)	25
Total	35	223	63
Total income tax expense	1,673	1,603	1,465
Income before income taxes
U.S. income	3,853	3,509	3,442
Foreign income	595	979	1,000
Income before income taxes	4,448	4,488	4,442
Reconciliation of income tax expense
Expected expense at U.S. federal statutory income tax rate	1,557	1,571	1,555
U.S. state and local income tax expense, net of federal benefit	71	91	87
Change in unrecognized tax benefits and settlements	28	(28)	(154)
Foreign taxes, net of federal tax benefits	(49)	(21)	(3)
Change in valuation allowance		(16)	3
Currency devaluation	121	29
Tax credits	(79)	(44)	(30)
Other	24	21	7
Total income tax expense	1,673	1,603	1,465
Deferred Tax Assets
Accruals and advances	433	471
State taxes	52	33
Net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards	842	847
Programming contract liabilities	33	18
Tax basis differences in investments and affiliates	219	203
Subtotal	1,579	1,572
Valuation allowance	(346)	(367)
Total deferred taxes	1,233	1,205
Deferred Tax Liabilities
Accruals and advances	313	275
Prepaid expenses	40	32
Depreciation, amortization and asset impairment charges	1,785	1,745
Unrealized foreign exchange gains or losses	11	23
Tax basis differences in investments and affiliates	837	853
Other	1	10
Total deferred taxes	2,987	2,938
Noncurrent deferred tax assets included in Investment and other assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets	18	1
Current deferred tax liabilities included in Accounts payable and accrued liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheets	97	70
Prepaid income taxes included in Prepaid expenses and other in the Consolidated Balance Sheets	$ 465	$ 423