Acquisitions and Discontinued Operation (Narrative) (Details)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	0 Months Ended					0 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2014 Domestic Tax Authority [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Domestic Tax Authority [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Domestic Tax Authority [Member]	Jan. 31, 2014 Chellomedia [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2014 Chellomedia [Member] EUR (€)	Jun. 30, 2014 Chellomedia [Member] USD ($)	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												$ 15.06	€ 11.00
Consideration transferred																$ 14,100,000,000
Proceeds from disposal group								1,013,100,000	750,000,000
Income tax rate					21.00%	21.50%	23.00%
Pre-tax gain on disposition										342,200,000	64,000,000
Deferred income tax expense (benefit)			(248,400,000)	49,700,000				9,500,000
Gain (adjustment to gain) on disposal of discontinued operation, net of taxes	$ (7,200,000)	$ 0	$ 332,700,000	$ 0