Quarterly Financial Information (Unaudited) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions |
3 Months Ended | 12 Months Ended | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec. 31, 2018 |
Sep. 30, 2018 |
Jun. 30, 2018 |
Mar. 31, 2018 |
Dec. 31, 2017 |
Sep. 30, 2017 |
Jun. 30, 2017 |
Mar. 31, 2017 |
Dec. 31, 2018 |
Dec. 31, 2017 |
Dec. 31, 2016 |
|
| Quarterly Financial Information [Line Items] | |||||||||||
| Revenue | $ 2,949.1 | $ 2,929.7 | $ 3,015.6 | $ 3,063.5 | $ 2,987.8 | $ 2,899.3 | $ 2,746.8 | $ 2,642.5 | $ 11,957.9 | $ 11,276.4 | $ 13,731.1 |
| Operating income (loss) | 252.4 | 205.1 | 264.1 | 117.5 | 153.1 | 218.8 | 206.3 | 214.2 | 839.1 | 792.4 | 1,570.1 |
| Effect of Accounting Change (note 2) | (4.4) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||||
| Net earnings (loss) | 52.2 | 1,025.9 | 950.5 | (1,178.6) | (1,022.0) | (779.0) | (652.4) | (267.2) | 850.0 | (2,720.6) | 1,767.3 |
| Net earnings (loss) attributable to Liberty Global shareholders | $ 25.1 | $ 974.1 | $ 912.6 | $ (1,186.5) | (992.0) | (791.6) | (674.3) | (320.2) | $ 725.3 | $ (2,778.1) | $ 1,705.3 |
| Basic earnings (loss) attributable to Liberty Global shareholders per share (notes 3 and 6) (in dollars per share) | $ 0.03 | $ 1.23 | $ 1.16 | $ (1.47) | |||||||
| Diluted earnings (loss) attributable to Liberty Global shareholders per share (notes 3 and 6) (in dollars per share) | $ 0.03 | $ 1.23 | $ 1.15 | $ (1.47) | |||||||
| As previously reported | |||||||||||
| Quarterly Financial Information [Line Items] | |||||||||||
| Revenue | $ 2,949.1 | $ 2,958.1 | $ 3,045.1 | $ 4,156.1 | 3,987.7 | 2,929.0 | 2,774.9 | 3,519.0 | |||
| Operating income (loss) | 252.4 | 208.6 | 263.9 | 493.1 | 495.8 | 221.6 | 208.9 | 427.1 | |||
| Restatement adjustment | Vodafone Disposal Group and UPC Austria | |||||||||||
| Quarterly Financial Information [Line Items] | |||||||||||
| Revenue | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | (1,061.6) | (970.4) | 0.0 | 0.0 | (849.2) | |||
| Operating income (loss) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | (372.7) | (334.5) | 0.0 | 0.0 | (210.4) | |||
| Restatement adjustment | UPC DTH | |||||||||||
| Quarterly Financial Information [Line Items] | |||||||||||
| Revenue | 0.0 | (28.4) | (29.5) | (31.0) | (29.5) | (29.7) | (28.1) | (27.3) | |||
| Operating income (loss) | $ 0.0 | $ (3.5) | $ 0.2 | $ (2.9) | $ (3.8) | $ (2.8) | $ (2.6) | $ (2.5) | |||
| Liberty Global Shares | |||||||||||
| Quarterly Financial Information [Line Items] | |||||||||||
| Basic and diluted loss attributable to Liberty Global shareholders per share (notes 3 and 5) (in dollars per share) | $ (0.68) | $ (0.55) | $ (0.75) | $ (0.33) | |||||||
| LiLAC Shares | |||||||||||
| Quarterly Financial Information [Line Items] | |||||||||||
| Basic and diluted loss attributable to Liberty Global shareholders per share (notes 3 and 5) (in dollars per share) | $ (2.55) | $ (1.93) | $ (0.22) | $ (0.16) | |||||||