ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSITION OF ASSETS - Narrative (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands		1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Sep. 01, 2017 USD ($) station market	Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Feb. 28, 2017 USD ($) station	Mar. 31, 2018 USD ($) station market		Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2017 station market	May 31, 2017 station market $ / shares shares
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station				191
Number of markets | market				89
Media revenues				$ 643,651	[1]	$ 607,057
Operating income (loss)				107,314		157,629
Broadcast incentive auction, proceeds				310,800
Gain (loss) on sale of assets and asset impairment charges				83,300
Number of stations assigned new channels | station			98
Broadcast incentive auction, total legislation funds to reimburse stations			$ 1,750,000
Broadcast incentive auction, total capital expenditure				3,400
Asset impairment charges				63,000
Bonten
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Aggregate purchase price	$ 240,000
Working capital adjustment	$ 2,200
Number of television stations owned | station	14
Number of markets | market	8
Number of stations to which sales services were provided | station	4
Measurement period adjustments, increase to goodwill				1,400
Finite-lived intangible assets acquired	$ 161,900
Goodwill, expected to be deductible for tax purposes	5,600
Media revenues				21,900
Operating income (loss)				1,600
Bonten | Network Affiliations
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible assets acquired	$ 53,300
Acquired finite-lived intangible assets, weighted average useful life	15 years
Bonten | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible assets acquired	$ 108,600
Acquired finite-lived intangible assets, weighted average useful life	14 years
Tennis Channel
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Working capital adjustment							$ 2,700
Business combination purchase price		$ 27,400
Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									42
Number of markets | market									33
Acquisition related costs				$ 4,700
Number of television stations to divest | station								14
Number of markets with divested stations | market								14
Disposal Group, Disposed of by Sale, Not Discontinued Operations | Alarm Funding Associates
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Sale price of assets sold		200,000				200,000
Working capital and transaction costs		5,000				$ 5,000
Gain on sale of consolidated non-media business		53,000
Gain on sale attributable to non-controlling interest		$ 12,300
FOX | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									14
CW | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									12
CBS | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									6
ABC | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									3
NBC | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									2
MyNetworkTV | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									3
Independent Station | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of television stations owned | station									2
Tribune Media Company, Stockholders | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash stockholders will receive (in dollars per share) | $ / shares									$ 35.00
Tribune Media Company, Stockholders | Class A Common Stock | Tribune Media Company
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of shares to be received for a share of acquired stock (in shares) | shares									0.23

[1] See Revenue Recognition within Note 1. Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies for a discussion of the adoption of the new accounting principles for revenue recognition.