SEGMENT DATA - Segment Financial Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions			12 Months Ended
		Mar. 01, 2022	Dec. 31, 2024	Dec. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Segment data
Goodwill			$ 2,082	$ 2,082	$ 2,088
Assets	[1]		5,885	6,085
Revenue			3,548	3,134	3,928
Media programming and production expenses			1,661	1,611	1,942
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			794	747	812
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			250	271	321
Amortization of program costs			74	80	90
Corporate general and administrative expenses			185	694	160
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary		$ (3,357)	0	10	(3,357)
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			(20)	3	(64)
Other segment items			53	49	44
Operating income (loss)			551	(331)	3,980
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			304	305	296
(Loss) income from equity method investments			118	29	56
Gain on extinguishment of debt			1	15	3
Other income (expense), net			29	(45)	(129)
Income (loss) before income taxes			395	(637)	3,614
Capital expenditures			84	92	105
Amortization of sports programming rights			0	0	326
Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC
Segment data
Goodwill			2,016	2,016	2,088
Assets	[2]		4,689	4,837
Revenue			3,254	2,978	3,928
Media programming and production expenses			1,536	1,543	1,942
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			742	719	812
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			231	252	321
Amortization of program costs			74	80	90
Corporate general and administrative expenses			123	654	160
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary		$ (3,357)	0	10	(3,357)
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			(18)	(2)	(64)
Other segment items			8	24	44
Operating income (loss)			558	(302)	3,980
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			304	305	296
(Loss) income from equity method investments			0	31	56
Gain on extinguishment of debt			1	15	3
Other income (expense), net			40	(43)	(129)
Income (loss) before income taxes			295	(604)	3,614
Capital expenditures			80	90	105
Amortization of sports programming rights			0	0	326
Local media
Segment data
Goodwill			2,016	2,016	2,016
Local media | Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC
Segment data
Goodwill			2,016	2,016	2,016
Tennis
Segment data
Goodwill			61	61	61
Operating segments | Local media
Segment data
Goodwill			2,016	2,016
Assets			4,591	4,747
Revenue			3,254	2,866	3,193
Media programming and production expenses			1,536	1,488	1,450
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			742	694	704
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			231	243	243
Amortization of program costs			74	80	90
Corporate general and administrative expenses			117	134	117
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary				0	0
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			(18)	(14)	(17)
Other segment items			8	14	15
Operating income (loss)			564	227	591
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			304	305	226
(Loss) income from equity method investments			0	0	0
Gain on extinguishment of debt			1	15	3
Other income (expense), net			40	33	28
Capital expenditures			80	86	96
Operating segments | Local media | Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC
Segment data
Goodwill			2,016	2,016
Assets			4,624	4,750
Revenue			3,254	2,866	3,193
Media programming and production expenses			1,536	1,488	1,450
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			742	694	704
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			231	243	243
Amortization of program costs			74	80	90
Corporate general and administrative expenses			117	134	117
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary				0	0
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			(18)	(14)	(17)
Other segment items			8	14	15
Operating income (loss)			564	227	591
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			304	305	226
(Loss) income from equity method investments				0	0
Gain on extinguishment of debt			1	15	3
Other income (expense), net			40	33	28
Capital expenditures			80	86	96
Intersegment revenues				3
Operating segments | Tennis
Segment data
Goodwill			61	61
Assets			253	293
Revenue			247	228	217
Media programming and production expenses			125	115	97
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			53	41	47
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			21	21	21
Amortization of program costs			0	0	0
Corporate general and administrative expenses			2	1	0
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary				0	0
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			0	0	0
Other segment items			0	0	0
Operating income (loss)			46	50	52
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			0	0	0
(Loss) income from equity method investments			(3)	(2)	0
Gain on extinguishment of debt			0	0	0
Other income (expense), net			0	0	1
Capital expenditures			1	1	1
Operating segments | Local sports
Segment data
Revenue					482
Media programming and production expenses					376
Media selling, general and administrative expenses					55
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets					54
Amortization of program costs					0
Corporate general and administrative expenses					1
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary					0
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment					0
Other segment items					0
Operating income (loss)					(4)
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs					72
(Loss) income from equity method investments					10
Gain on extinguishment of debt					0
Other income (expense), net					(3)
Capital expenditures					2
Amortization of sports programming rights					326
Operating segments | Local sports | Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC
Segment data
Revenue					482
Media programming and production expenses					376
Media selling, general and administrative expenses					55
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets					54
Amortization of program costs					0
Corporate general and administrative expenses					1
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary					0
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment					0
Other segment items					0
Operating income (loss)					(4)
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs					72
(Loss) income from equity method investments					10
Gain on extinguishment of debt					0
Other income (expense), net					(3)
Capital expenditures					2
Amortization of sports programming rights					326
Eliminations
Segment data
Goodwill			0	0
Assets			(2)	(3)
Revenue			(29)	(22)	(59)
Media programming and production expenses			0	(5)	(11)
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			(22)	(10)	(37)
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			(4)	(3)	(4)
Amortization of program costs			0	0	0
Corporate general and administrative expenses			0	0	0
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary				0	0
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			0	0	0
Other segment items			(3)	(4)	(7)
Operating income (loss)			0	0	0
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			0	0	(8)
(Loss) income from equity method investments			0	0	0
Gain on extinguishment of debt			0	0	0
Other income (expense), net			0	0	(2)
Capital expenditures			(2)	0	0
Eliminations | Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC
Segment data
Revenue				(7)	(59)
Media programming and production expenses				(4)	(11)
Media selling, general and administrative expenses				(2)	(37)
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets				(1)	(4)
Amortization of program costs				0	0
Corporate general and administrative expenses				0	0
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary				0	0
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment				0	0
Other segment items				0	(7)
Operating income (loss)				0	0
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs				0	(8)
(Loss) income from equity method investments				0	0
Gain on extinguishment of debt				0	0
Other income (expense), net				0	(2)
Capital expenditures				0	0
Corporate And Reconciling Items
Segment data
Goodwill			5	5
Assets			1,043	1,048
Revenue			76	62	95
Media programming and production expenses			0	13	30
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			21	22	43
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			2	10	7
Amortization of program costs			0	0	0
Corporate general and administrative expenses			66	559	42
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary				10	(3,357)
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			(2)	17	(47)
Other segment items			48	39	36
Operating income (loss)			(59)	(608)	3,341
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			0	0	6
(Loss) income from equity method investments			121	31	46
Gain on extinguishment of debt			0	0	0
Other income (expense), net			(11)	(78)	(153)
Capital expenditures			5	5	6
Intersegment revenues			13	8	12
Corporate And Reconciling Items | Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC
Segment data
Revenue				119	312
Media programming and production expenses				59	127
Media selling, general and administrative expenses				27	90
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets				10	28
Amortization of program costs				0	0
Corporate general and administrative expenses				520	42
Loss on deconsolidation of subsidiary				10	(3,357)
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment				12	(47)
Other segment items				10	36
Operating income (loss)				(529)	3,393
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs				0	6
(Loss) income from equity method investments				31	46
Gain on extinguishment of debt				0	0
Other income (expense), net				(76)	(152)
Capital expenditures				4	$ 7
Corporate | Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC
Segment data
Goodwill			0	0
Assets			65	$ 87
Revenue			0
Media programming and production expenses			0
Media selling, general and administrative expenses			0
Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of definite-lived intangible assets and other assets			0
Amortization of program costs			0
Corporate general and administrative expenses			6
Gain on asset dispositions and other, net of impairment			0
Other segment items			0
Operating income (loss)			(6)
Interest expense including amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs			0
Gain on extinguishment of debt			0
Other income (expense), net			0
Capital expenditures			$ 0

[1] Our consolidated total assets as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 include total assets of Variable Interest Entities (“VIEs”) of $70 million and $85 million, respectively, which can only be used to settle the obligations of the VIEs. Our consolidated total liabilities as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 include total liabilities of the VIEs of $16 million and $17 million, respectively, for which the creditors of the VIEs have no recourse to us. See Note 13. Variable Interest Entities.

[2] Our consolidated total assets as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 include total assets of VIEs of $70 million and $85 million, respectively, which can only be used to settle the obligations of the VIEs. Our consolidated total liabilities as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 include total liabilities of the VIEs of $16 million and $17 million, respectively, for which the creditors of the VIEs have no recourse to us. See Note 12. Variable Interest Entities.