Commitments and Contingencies (Unrecorded Purchase Obligation) (Details) $ in Millions	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($)
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	$ 909.9
2020	1,842.9
2021	1,247.6
2023	448.0
2023	81.0
2024	67.7
Thereafter	758.2
Total	5,355.3
Programming commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	270.8
2020	1,072.1
2021	821.3
2023	328.0
2023	17.0
2024	13.8
Thereafter	29.5
Total	2,552.5
Network and connectivity commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	348.3
2020	415.1
2021	261.1
2023	70.4
2023	39.5
2024	36.8
Thereafter	704.2
Total	1,875.4
Purchase commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	279.4
2020	339.0
2021	162.0
2023	47.7
2023	24.2
2024	16.8
Thereafter	23.5
Total	892.6
Other commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	11.4
2020	16.7
2021	3.2
2023	1.9
2023	0.3
2024	0.3
Thereafter	1.0
Total	$ 34.8

Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation Balance On Sixth Anniversary

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	lbtya_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation balance on sixth anniversary and thereafter.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	lbtya_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the fifth fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 440
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77896938&loc=d3e25336-109308

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the fourth fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the second fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the third fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the unrecorded obligation to transfer funds in the future for fixed or minimum amounts or quantities of goods or services at fixed or minimum prices (for example, as in take-or-pay contracts or throughput contracts).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationBalanceSheetAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the remainder of the fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationDueInRemainderOfFiscalYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationByCategoryOfItemPurchasedAxis=lbtya_NetworkandConnectivityCommitmentsMember
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationByCategoryOfItemPurchasedAxis=lbtya_PurchaseCommitmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
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- Details

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