Intangible assets - Intangible Assets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 439,928	$ 27,264
Accumulated Amortization	(45,958)	(24,369)
Net	393,970	2,895
Total Intangible assets, gross	504,359	91,362
Intangible assets, net	458,401	66,993
Franchise Rights [Member]
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets (Excluding Goodwill) [Abstract]
Non-amortizing intangibles	64,431	64,098
Affiliate Contract Expansion Rights [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	287,800	0
Accumulated Amortization	(8,883)	0
Net	278,917	0
Acquired Subscribers - Wireless [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	113,761	0
Accumulated Amortization	(11,442)	0
Net	102,319	0
Contract Based Intangibles - Wireless [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	11,000	0
Accumulated Amortization	(458)	0
Net	10,542	0
Acquired Subscribers - Cable [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	25,265	25,326
Accumulated Amortization	(24,452)	(23,805)
Net	813	1,521
Other Intangible [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	2,102	1,938
Accumulated Amortization	(723)	(564)
Net	$ 1,379	$ 1,374