v3.20.2

Related Party Transactions - DISH Network - TerreStar Agreement (Details) - TerreStar Agreement - DISH Network	1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Minimum termination notice period	21 days
Required minimum notice for termination of agreement	90 days

X

- Definition

Related party transactions agreement termination required notice period from related party minimum.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	sats_RelatedPartyTransactionsAgreementTerminationRequiredNoticePeriodFromRelatedPartyMinimum
Namespace Prefix:	sats_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Related party transactions required minimum notice period for termination of agreement.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	sats_RelatedPartyTransactionsRequiredMinimumNoticePeriodForTerminationOfAgreement
Namespace Prefix:	sats_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- 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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_TypeOfArrangementAxis=sats_TerreStarAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=sats_DISHNetworkMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: