Acquisitions and Discontinued Operation (Narrative) (Details)	3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	0 Months Ended							0 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2014 Domestic Tax Authority [Member]	Jan. 31, 2014 Chellomedia [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2014 Chellomedia [Member] EUR (€)	Jan. 31, 2014 Chellomedia [Member] Accumulated Translation Adjustment [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 27, 2014 Ziggo Merger Agreement [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 27, 2014 Ziggo Merger Agreement [Member] EUR (€)	Jan. 27, 2014 Ziggo Merger Agreement [Member] Class A Ordinary Shares [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 27, 2014 Ziggo Merger Agreement [Member] Class C Ordinary Shares [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 07, 2013 Virgin Media Acquisition [Member] USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Consideration Transferred, Equity Interests Issued and Issuable Per Share									$ 0.2282
Consideration Transferred, Conditional Equity Interests Issued and Issuable Per Share										$ 0.5630
Consideration Transferred, Conditional Equity Interests Issued and Issuable Cash Per Share							$ 15.15	€ 11.00
Consideration transferred											$ 14,100,000,000
Proceeds from disposal group				1,032,900,000	750,000,000
Income tax rate			21.50%
Pre-tax gain on disposition				350,000,000		64,000,000
Deferred income tax benefit	(184,200,000)	(36,800,000)		10,100,000
Gain on disposal of discontinued operation, net of taxes	$ 339,900,000	$ 0