Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2020	Mar. 31, 2019
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenue (notes 3, 4, 5 and 17)	$ 2,875.8	$ 2,868.0
Operating costs and expenses (exclusive of depreciation and amortization, shown separately below):
Programming and other direct costs of services	855.1	800.4
Other operating (note 13)	420.1	419.4
Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) (note 13)	505.5	532.2
Depreciation and amortization	783.5	939.6
Impairment, restructuring and other operating items, net (note 14)	31.0	70.9
Operating costs and expenses	2,595.2	2,762.5
Operating income	280.6	105.5
Non-operating income (expense):
Interest expense	(313.3)	(367.3)
Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on derivative instruments, net (note 6)	1,237.3	(82.8)
Foreign currency transaction gains, net	391.7	138.6
Realized and unrealized losses due to changes in fair values of certain investments and debt, net (notes 5, 7 and 9)	(529.8)	(8.2)
Losses on debt extinguishment, net (note 9)	(54.5)	(0.5)
Share of results of affiliates, net (note 5)	33.4	(70.9)
Other income, net	52.4	6.5
Non-operating income (expense)	817.2	(384.6)
Earnings (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes	1,097.8	(279.1)
Income tax expense (note 11)	(80.1)	(27.8)
Earnings (loss) from continuing operations	1,017.7	(306.9)
Net earnings	0.0	322.6
Net earnings	1,017.7	15.7
Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	(67.9)	(8.7)
Net earnings attributable to Liberty Global shareholders	$ 949.8	$ 7.0
Basic earnings (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Liberty Global shareholders per share (in USD per share)	$ 1.51	$ (0.43)
Diluted earnings (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Liberty Global shareholders per share (in USD per share)	$ 1.50	$ (0.43)