Debt and Capital Lease Obligations (Consolidated Debt and Capital Lease Obligations) (Details)	0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended						9 Months Ended						9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended																						1 Months Ended														9 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended					9 Months Ended
	Jul. 07, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Notes [Member] GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2013 VM Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Credit Facility [Member] GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2013 VM Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Convertible Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Convertible Notes [Member] GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2013 VM Convertible Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Convertible Notes [Member] Exchange Per $1000 Principal Amount [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Convertible Notes [Member] Exchange Per $1000 Principal Amount [Member] Class A Ordinary Shares [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 VM Convertible Notes [Member] Exchange Per $1000 Principal Amount [Member] Class C Ordinary Shares [Member]	Apr. 30, 2014 UPC Holding Senior Notes 9.875 Debt [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 UPCB SPE Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 UPCB SPE Notes [Member] GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2013 UPCB SPE Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 UPC Broadband Holding Bank Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 UPC Broadband Holding Bank Facility [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 UPC Broadband Holding Bank Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 UPC Holding Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 UPC Holding Senior Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 UPC Holding Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Unitymedia KabelBW Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Unitymedia KabelBW Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 Unitymedia KabelBW Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Unitymedia KabelBW Revolving Credit Facilities [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Unitymedia KabelBW Revolving Credit Facilities [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 Unitymedia KabelBW Revolving Credit Facilities [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Telenet Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Telenet Credit Facility [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 Telenet Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Telenet SPE Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Telenet SPE Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 Telenet SPE Notes [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2014 VTR Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VTR Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VTR Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 VTR Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Sumitomo Collar Loan [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Sumitomo Collar Loan [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 Sumitomo Collar Loan [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 ITV Collar Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 ITV Collar Loan [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Liberty Puerto Rico Bank Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Liberty Puerto Rico Bank Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Ziggo Collar [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Ziggo Collar [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2013 Ziggo Collar [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Ziggo Margin Loan [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Ziggo Margin Loan [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Vendor Financing [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Vendor Financing [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2014 VTR Wireless Bank Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 VTR Wireless Bank Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 VTR Wireless Bank Facility [Member] CLP	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Debt [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Other Debt [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Debt [Member] United States of America, Dollars CLP	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Debt [Member] Chile, Pesos USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Debt [Member] Chile, Pesos CLP	Sep. 30, 2014 Unitymedia KabelBW Capital Lease Obligations [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Unitymedia KabelBW Capital Lease Obligations [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Telenet Capital Lease [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Telenet Capital Lease [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Virgin Media Capital Lease Obligations [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Virgin Media Capital Lease Obligations [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Subsidiaries Capital Lease [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Other Subsidiaries Capital Lease [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Aggregate Variable and Fixed Rate Indebtedness [Member]
Debt:
Weighted average interest rate		5.48%			6.11%	6.11%		3.77%	3.77%		6.50%	6.50%						6.88%	6.88%		3.57%	3.57%		7.16%	7.16%		6.87%	6.87%		0.00%	0.00%		3.42%	3.42%		5.93%	5.93%			6.88%	6.88%		1.88%	1.88%		1.73%		5.20%		0.45%	0.45%		0.00%		3.57%					8.97%													6.50%
Unused borrowing capacity		$ 3,630,000,000			$ 0	£ 0		$ 1,070,600,000	£ 660,000,000		$ 0	£ 0						$ 0	£ 0		$ 1,283,400,000	€ 1,016,200,000		$ 0	€ 0		$ 0	€ 0		$ 631,400,000	€ 500,000,000		$ 407,800,000	€ 322,900,000		$ 0	€ 0			$ 0	€ 0		$ 0	€ 0		$ 0		$ 40,000,000		$ 0	€ 0		$ 0		$ 0					$ 196,800,000		160,000,000	$ 36,800,000	22,000,000,000
Estimated fair value		40,821,900,000		44,229,000,000	8,384,500,000		9,188,700,000	4,821,200,000		4,388,900,000	159,800,000		164,100,000					4,322,400,000		4,536,500,000	3,238,500,000		5,717,800,000	2,719,300,000		3,297,400,000	7,624,400,000		8,058,200,000	0		0	1,709,600,000		1,956,900,000	2,553,900,000		2,916,500,000		1,451,600,000		0	895,700,000		939,300,000	695,200,000	0	669,100,000	666,200,000	631,800,000		852,900,000	0	634,300,000	759,000,000	603,100,000				185,900,000	308,200,000
Carrying value		39,483,800,000		42,856,000,000	8,272,500,000		9,150,100,000	4,887,900,000		4,352,800,000	57,000,000		57,500,000					4,075,200,000		4,219,500,000	3,261,000,000		5,671,400,000	2,495,100,000		3,099,200,000	7,130,700,000		7,651,900,000	0		0	1,710,200,000		1,936,900,000	2,399,500,000		2,759,200,000		1,400,000,000		0	859,800,000		894,300,000	691,200,000	0	671,900,000	665,000,000	626,900,000		852,600,000	0	634,300,000	759,000,000	603,100,000		113,100,000		185,900,000	308,200,000
Fee on unused portion of credit facility								1.30%	1.30%																																																					1.10%	1.34%	1.34%
Capital lease obligations:
Total capital lease obligations		1,649,000,000		1,848,300,000																																																													852,300,000	952,000,000	427,000,000	451,200,000	298,900,000	373,500,000	70,800,000	71,600,000
Total debt and capital lease obligations		41,132,800,000		44,704,300,000
Current maturities		(1,669,000,000)		(1,023,400,000)
Long-term debt and capital lease obligations		39,463,800,000		43,680,900,000
Outstanding principal amount										4,887,900,000											3,261,000,000												1,710,200,000
Unused borrowing capacity considering limitations								718,600,000	443,000,000												1,201,800,000	951,600,000
Unused borrowing capacity, considering limitations, after compliance reporting requirements																					1,145,100,000	906,700,000
Capacity restricted to other subsidiaries								825,300,000	508,800,000
Interest rate																	9.875%																						6.875%
General term of vendor financing arrangements																																																							1 year
Value added tax, vendor financing arrangement		76,100,000	28,900,000																																																				74,400,000	47,300,000
Debt conversion shares issued															13.4339	33.4963
Debt conversion amount														910.51
Debt conversion original amount														1,000
Principal amount of debt																	400,000,000																						1,400,000,000.0																			100,300,000	60,000,000,000
Gains (losses) on extinguishment of debt																	(41,500,000)																																				(2,300,000)				(2,000,000)
Redemption premiums																	19,700,000
Write-off of unamortized debt discounts	(900,000)																17,400,000
Write off of deferred debt issuance cost	$ 10,400,000																$ 4,400,000																						$ 7,200,000