Commitments and Contingencies (Unrecorded Purchase Obligation) (Details) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	$ 1,789.8
2020	1,148.7
2021	690.6
2023	160.5
2023	77.9
2024	68.4
Thereafter	780.1
Total	4,716.0
Network and connectivity commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	613.7
2020	304.1
2021	257.7
2023	61.3
2023	43.8
2024	37.2
Thereafter	722.7
Total	2,040.5
Programming commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	593.8
2020	577.6
2021	306.0
2023	60.7
2023	13.9
2024	13.9
Thereafter	30.2
Total	1,596.1
Purchase commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	563.8
2020	259.0
2021	125.3
2023	37.0
2023	20.0
2024	17.1
Thereafter	26.6
Total	1,048.8
Other commitments
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation [Line Items]
Remainder of 2019	18.5
2020	8.0
2021	1.6
2023	1.5
2023	0.2
2024	0.2
Thereafter	0.6
Total	$ 30.6

Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation Balance On Sixth Anniversary

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	lbtya_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation balance on sixth anniversary and thereafter.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	lbtya_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationBalanceOnSixthAnniversaryAndThereafter
Namespace Prefix:	lbtya_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the fifth fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 440
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77896938&loc=d3e25336-109308

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the fourth fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the second fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the third fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the unrecorded obligation to transfer funds in the future for fixed or minimum amounts or quantities of goods or services at fixed or minimum prices (for example, as in take-or-pay contracts or throughput contracts).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationBalanceSheetAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the unrecorded unconditional purchase obligation maturing in the remainder of the fiscal year following the latest fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported on a rolling approach, from latest balance sheet date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationDueInRemainderOfFiscalYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationByCategoryOfItemPurchasedAxis=lbtya_NetworkandConnectivityCommitmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationByCategoryOfItemPurchasedAxis=lbtya_ProgrammingCommitmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_UnrecordedUnconditionalPurchaseObligationByCategoryOfItemPurchasedAxis=lbtya_PurchaseCommitmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

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Data Type:	na
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