| Income Taxes (Tables)
 | 12 Months Ended | 
| Dec. 31, 2018 | 
|---|
| Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |  | 
| Schedule of components of income tax expense | 
We file a consolidated federal income tax return for all of our wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Sirius XM.  Income tax expense consisted of the following: 
|  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|   | For the Years Ended December 31, |  
|   | 2018 |   | 2017 |   | 2016 |  
| Current taxes: |   |   |   |   |   |  
| Federal | $ | — | 
 |   | $ | — | 
 |   | $ | — | 
 |  
| State | 12,038 | 
 |   | (32,579 | ) |   | (21,782 | ) |  
| Foreign | (144 | ) |   | (202 | ) |   | (383 | ) |  
| Total current taxes | 11,894 | 
 |   | (32,781 | ) |   | (22,165 | ) |  
| Deferred taxes: |   |   |   |   |   |  
| Federal | (258,930 | ) |   | (564,171 | ) |   | (304,179 | ) |  
| State | 2,355 | 
 |   | (19,349 | ) |   | (19,383 | ) |  
| Total deferred taxes | (256,575 | ) |   | (583,520 | ) |   | (323,562 | ) |  
| Total income tax expense | $ | (244,681 | ) |   | $ | (616,301 | ) |   | $ | (345,727 | ) |  | 
| Schedule of effective income tax rate reconciliation | 
The following table presents a reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory tax rate and our effective tax rate: 
|  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|   | For the Years Ended December 31, |  
|   | 2018 |   | 2017 |   | 2016 |  
| Federal tax expense, at statutory rate | 21.0 |  % |   | 35.0 |  % |   | 35.0 |  % |  
| State income tax expense, net of federal benefit | 3.6 |  % |   | 2.8 |  % |   | 2.8 |  % |  
| Change in valuation allowance | 1.0 |  % |   | (0.1 | )% |   | — |  % |  
| Tax credits | (6.8 | )% |   | (1.7 | )% |   | (6.1 | )% |  
| Stock-based compensation | (3.1 | )% |   | (2.9 | )% |   | (0.6 | )% |  
| Federal tax reform - deferred rate change | — |  % |   | 14.6 |  % |   | — |  % |  
| Other, net | 1.5 |  % |   | 1.0 |  % |   | 0.6 |  % |  
| Effective tax rate | 17.2 |  % |   | 48.7 |  % |   | 31.7 |  % |  | 
| Schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities | 
The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities, shown before jurisdictional netting, are presented below: 
|  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|   | For the Years Ended December 31, |  
|   | 2018 |   | 2017 |  
| Deferred tax assets: |   |   |   |  
| Net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits | $ | 952,316 | 
 |   | $ | 686,277 | 
 |  
| Deferred revenue | 88,502 | 
 |   | 500,461 | 
 |  
| Accrued bonus | 26,825 | 
 |   | 24,150 | 
 |  
| Expensed costs capitalized for tax | 15,978 | 
 |   | 13,914 | 
 |  
| Investments | 11,965 | 
 |   | 29,881 | 
 |  
| Stock based compensation | 55,436 | 
 |   | 50,065 | 
 |  
| Other | 5,940 | 
 |   | 20,819 | 
 |  
| Total deferred tax assets | 1,156,962 | 
 |   | 1,325,567 | 
 |  
| Deferred tax liabilities: |   |   |   |  
| Depreciation of property and equipment | (230,053 | ) |   | (156,003 | ) |  
| FCC license | (515,627 | ) |   | (506,578 | ) |  
| Other intangible assets | (101,650 | ) |   | (105,471 | ) |  
| Other | 2,049 | 
 |   | (7,273 | ) |  
| Total deferred tax liabilities | (845,281 | ) |   | (775,325 | ) |  
| Net deferred tax assets before valuation allowance | 311,681 | 
 |   | 550,242 | 
 |  
| Valuation allowance | (66,229 | ) |   | (52,883 | ) |  
| Total net deferred tax asset | $ | 245,452 | 
 |   | $ | 497,359 | 
 |  | 
| Summary of income tax contingencies | 
Changes in our uncertain income tax positions, from January 1 through December 31 are set forth below: 
|  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|   | 2018 |   | 2017 |  
| Balance, beginning of year | $ | 334,254 | 
 |   | $ | 303,583 | 
 |  
| Increases in tax positions for prior years | 65,099 | 
 |   | 14,530 | 
 |  
| Increases in tax positions for current years | 14,594 | 
 |   | 16,141 | 
 |  
| Decreases in tax positions for prior years | (26,798 | ) |   | — | 
 |  
| Balance, end of year | $ | 387,149 | 
 |   | $ | 334,254 | 
 |  |