Debt and Capital Lease Obligations (Unitymedia KabelBW Notes and KBW Notes) (Narrative) (Details)	12 Months Ended											12 Months Ended																					0 Months Ended				0 Months Ended												0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014 UPC Holding Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 UPC Holding Senior Notes [Member] EUR (€)	May 31, 2012 KBW Senior Notes [Member]	Apr. 30, 2012 KBW Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2012 KBW Senior Notes [Member] EUR (€)	May 31, 2012 KBW Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Apr. 30, 2012 KBW Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2012 KBW Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Apr. 30, 2012 KBW Dollar Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2012 KBW Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2012 KBW Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 Special Optional Redemptions [Member] USD ($)	May 31, 2012 Special Optional Redemptions [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Unitymedia KabelBW Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Unitymedia KabelBW Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2014 September 2012 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Sep. 19, 2012 September 2012 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 19, 2012 September 2012 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2014 April 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Apr. 16, 2013 April 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 16, 2013 April 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2014 January 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Jan. 21, 2013 January 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 21, 2013 January 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2014 November 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Nov. 21, 2013 November 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Nov. 21, 2013 November 2013 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2014 December 2012 UM Dollar Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Dec. 14, 2012 December 2012 UM Dollar Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 December 2012 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Dec. 14, 2012 December 2012 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 14, 2012 December 2012 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 17, 2014 2009 UM Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Nov. 07, 2014 2009 UM Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Nov. 07, 2014 2009 UM Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Nov. 07, 2014 2009 UM Senior Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Nov. 21, 2014 2009 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 21, 2013 2009 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 14, 2012 2009 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 14, 2012 2009 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Nov. 30, 2009 2009 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2009 2009 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Nov. 30, 2009 2009 UM Dollar Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 UM Senior Exchange Notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 October 2014 UM Senior Notes [Member]	Oct. 22, 2014 October 2014 UM Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 UM Euro Senior Secured Exchange Notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 UM Dollar Senior Secured Exchange Notes [Member]	Sep. 19, 2012 UM Senior Secured Floating Rate Exchange Notes [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 19, 2012 UM Senior Secured Floating Rate Exchange Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Sep. 19, 2012 UM Senior Secured Floating Rate Exchange Notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 December 2014 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Dec. 17, 2014 December 2014 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 17, 2014 December 2014 UM Euro Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2014 December 2014 UM Dollar Senior Secured Notes [Member]	Dec. 17, 2014 December 2014 UM Dollar Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 October 2014 UM Senior Notes and December 2014 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 October 2014 UM Senior Notes and December 2014 UM Senior Secured Notes [Member] EUR (€)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal amount of debt				$ 822,800,000	€ 680,000,000		$ 968,100,000	€ 800,000,000	$ 500,000,000	$ 508,200,000	€ 420,000,000						$ 786,500,000	€ 650,000,000		$ 423,500,000	€ 350,000,000		$ 605,000,000	€ 500,000,000		$ 574,800,000	€ 475,000,000		$ 1,000,000,000		$ 605,000,000	€ 500,000,000									$ 1,730,400,000	€ 1,430,000,000	$ 845,000,000			$ 900,000,000							$ 1,210,100,000	€ 1,000,000,000		$ 550,000,000
Stated interest rate of debt				9.50%	9.50%		7.50%	7.50%	7.50%							5.50%	5.50%	5.50%	5.625%	5.625%	5.625%	5.125%	5.125%	5.125%	6.25%	6.25%	6.25%	5.50%	5.50%	5.75%	5.75%	5.75%			9.625%	9.625%					8.125%	8.125%	8.125%	9.50%	6.125%	6.125%	7.50%	7.50%				4.00%	4.00%	4.00%	5.00%	5.00%
Principal amount of debt redeemed																																			804,700,000	665,000,000
Debt instrument redemption percent of principal amount outstanding			90.90%			92.50%
Redemption price expressed as percentage of principal amount on debt instrument													101.00%																																						101.00%
Extinguishment of debt																																							634,100,000	524,000,000									292,600,000	241,800,000
Gains (losses) on extinguishment of debt	(85,500,000)											(7,000,000)																					(59,500,000)	(71,300,000)			(41,400,000)	(71,100,000)	(175,800,000)
Payment for debt redemption premium	35,600,000											1,400,000																					70,100,000	45,000,000			24,500,000	50,500,000	125,900,000										10,200,000
Loss on extinguishment of debt, third party costs incurred												5,600,000
Write off of deferred debt issuance cost	19,000,000																																	14,000,000					49,400,000
Amortization of debt discount (premium)	24,500,000																																(10,600,000)	12,300,000
Write-off of deferred financing costs and unamortized discount																																					16,900,000	20,600,000
Portion of debt, default of which triggers event of default	$ 60,500,000	€ 50,000,000												$ 30,300,000	€ 25,000,000																																										$ 90,800,000	€ 75,000,000
Additional basis points used to determine redemption premium	0.50%													0.50%	0.50%