Liability for unpaid claims and claims adjustment expense claims paid prepayment.

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- Definition

Litigation settlement initial payment.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	sats
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
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- Definition

Litigation settlement intellectual property liability contribution.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	sats
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
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- Definition

Litigation settlement number of annual installments

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- Definition

Litigation settlement total amount to be paid by entity through six annual installments.

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- Definition

Litigation settlement total amount to be paid through six annual installments.

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Namespace Prefix:	sats
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
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- Definition

Loss contingency contribution towards settlement agreement.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	sats
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
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- Definition

Loss contingency disablement provision.

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Namespace Prefix:	sats
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- Definition

Loss contingency estimated percentage of annual payments payable by entity.

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- Definition

Loss contingency, number of set-top boxes not disabled

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- Definition

Number of international customers to whom license granted.

+ Details

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- Definition

Number of subsidiaries against which lawsuit filed.

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Portion of settlement expense including prepayment.

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- Definition

Amount of payments made in the reporting period to settle claims incurred in prior periods and related claims settlement costs.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Financial Reporting Release (FRR)

-Number 403

-Paragraph 04

-Subparagraph b

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher AICPA

-Name Statement of Position (SOP)

-Number 94-5

-Paragraph 11

-Subparagraph c

-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 944

-SubTopic 40

-Section 50

-Paragraph 3

-Subparagraph (c)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6482485&loc=d3e14764-158437

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- Definition

This element represents the gross amount awarded, to be received by, or to be remitted to the entity in settlement of litigation occurring during the period.

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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Commitments and Contingencies (Details 2) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011 Tivo Inc. installment customer	Apr. 20, 2011 Tivo Inc. settopbox	Feb. 23, 2011 Vigilos, LLC subsidiary
Commitment and Contingencies
Disablement provision contempt sanction amount		$ 90
Settlement amount	500
Initial settlement amount paid	300
Aggregate of six annual installment amounts between 2012 and 2017	200
Litigation settlement, number of annual installments	6
Estimated dollar amount of future payments payable by EchoStar	10
Estimated percentage of annual future payments payable by EchoStar (as a percent)	5.00%
Portion of the $300 million initial settlement agreement payment allocated to EchoStar	10
Portion of EchoStar's initial litigation settlement payment related to prior periods	8
Portion of EchoStar's initial litigation settlement payment related to future periods	2
Portion of litigation payment expense including prepayments	12
Number of international customers to whom license granted	2
Intellectual property liability contribution	$ 5
Number of subsidiaries against which lawsuit was filed			2
Loss contingency terms
Number of set-top boxes not required to be disabled		192,000