Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (USD $) In Millions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenue	$ 4,533.7	$ 2,671.9
Operating costs and expenses:
Operating (other than depreciation and amortization) (including share-based compensation) (note 10)	1,698.8	966.8
Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) (including share-based compensation) (note 10)	762.5	471.4
Depreciation and amortization	1,377.1	684.6
Impairment, restructuring and other operating items, net (notes 2 and 6)	113.6	20.9
Costs and expenses, Total	3,952.0	2,143.7
Operating income	581.7	528.2
Non-operating income (expense):
Interest expense	(653.5)	(471.5)
Interest and dividend income	13.8	13.7
Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on derivative instruments, net (note 4)	(376.6)	195.5
Foreign currency transaction losses, net	(20.8)	(136.3)
Realized and unrealized gains (losses) due to changes in fair values of certain investments, net (notes 3 and 5)	(60.2)	70.8
Losses on debt modification and extinguishment, net (note 7)	(20.9)	(158.3)
Other expense, net	(0.5)	(1.7)
Nonoperating income (expense), Total	(1,118.7)	(487.8)
Earnings (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes	(537.0)	40.4
Income tax benefit (expense) (note 8)	117.0	(20.3)
Earnings (loss) from continuing operations	(420.0)	20.1
Earnings from discontinued operation, net of taxes	0.8	1.8
Gain on disposal of discontinued operation, net of taxes	339.9	0
Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax, Including Portion Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest	340.7	1.8
Net earnings (loss)	(79.3)	21.9
Net loss (earnings) attributable to noncontrolling interests	0.5	(22.9)
Net loss attributable to Liberty Global shareholders	$ (78.8)	$ (1.0)
Basic and diluted earnings (loss) attributable to Liberty Global shareholders per share (note 12):
Continuing operations (in dollars per share)	$ (0.53)	$ (0.01)
Discontinued operation (in dollars per share)	$ 0.43	$ 0.01
Basic and diluted earnings (loss) attributable to Liberty Global shareholders (in dollars per share)	$ (0.10)	$ 0.00
Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding — basic and diluted (in shares)	787,737,909	513,805,800