Acquisitions - Narrative (Details)						9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jun. 06, 2016 USD ($) show	Apr. 12, 2016 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2015 USD ($)	Jul. 22, 2015 USD ($) show	Apr. 01, 2015 USD ($) radio_station television_station shares	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill						$ 616,780,000	$ 616,780,000	$ 585,787,000	$ 106,261,000	$ 27,966,000
Shares issued for acquisition | shares								26,350,993
KNIN [Member] | Raycom Media, Inc. [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business disposition, consideration to be received			$ 14,500,000
Television
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill						466,121,000	466,121,000	$ 466,121,000	72,681,000	27,966,000
Radio
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill						41,000,000	41,000,000	41,000,000	0	0
Digital
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill						109,659,000	109,659,000	78,666,000	$ 33,580,000	$ 0
2016 Stitcher acquisition
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, purchase price	$ 4,500,000
Number of podcast shows | show	65,000
Intangible assets acquired	$ 2,900,000
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							1,590,000
2016 Stitcher acquisition | Computer software
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Estimated useful life	3 years
2016 Stitcher acquisition | Television
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							0
2016 Stitcher acquisition | Radio
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							0
2016 Stitcher acquisition | Digital
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							1,590,000
2016 Cracked acquisition
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, purchase price		$ 39,000,000
Intangible assets acquired		9,600,000
Goodwill		29,000,000
Revenues from acquired operations						$ 4,000,000
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							29,403,000
2016 Cracked acquisition | Trade names
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets acquired		$ 7,600,000
Estimated useful life		20 years
2016 Cracked acquisition | Media content
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets acquired		$ 2,000,000
Estimated useful life		3 years
2016 Cracked acquisition | Television
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							0
2016 Cracked acquisition | Radio
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							0
2016 Cracked acquisition | Digital
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period							$ 29,403,000
2015 Midroll acquisition
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, purchase price				$ 50,000,000
Number of podcast shows | show				200
Intangible assets acquired				$ 10,700,000
Goodwill				45,586,000
Business acquisition, earnout provision				$ 10,000,000
Earnout provision, payment term				3 years
Earnout provision, fair value				$ 7,000,000
Goodwill, Acquired During Period								45,586,000
2015 Midroll acquisition | Advertiser relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets acquired				$ 7,000,000
Estimated useful life				5 years
2015 Midroll acquisition | Other intangible assets
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets acquired				$ 4,000,000
2015 Midroll acquisition | Digital
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period								45,586,000
2015 Journal acquisition
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, purchase price					$ 636,000,000
Intangible assets acquired					294,800,000
Goodwill					$ 456,440,000
Number of television stations acquired | television_station					12
Number of radio stations acquired | radio_station					34
Goodwill, Acquired During Period								456,440,000
2015 Journal acquisition | Retransmission agreements, television network affiliate relationships, advertiser relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets acquired					$ 183,000,000
2015 Journal acquisition | Retransmission agreements, television network affiliate relationships, advertiser relationships | Minimum
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Estimated useful life					10 years
2015 Journal acquisition | Retransmission agreements, television network affiliate relationships, advertiser relationships | Maximum
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Estimated useful life					20 years
2015 Journal acquisition | FCC licenses
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets acquired					$ 112,000,000
2015 Journal acquisition | Common Stock | Common stock, Class A
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Shares issued for acquisition | shares					26,400,000
2015 Journal acquisition | Television
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period								395,000,000
2015 Journal acquisition | Radio
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period								41,000,000
2015 Journal acquisition | Digital
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill, Acquired During Period								$ 20,000,000