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DOCSIS is an ITU-approved international standard that specifies how data should be transmitted over cable networks. The original DOCSIS project was headed by a consortium of large cable operators called MCNS Holdings, L.P. (MCNS), which included as members Comcast Cable Communications, Cox Communications, Tele-Communications, and Time Warner Cable. The ITU approved DOCSIS as a standard in 1998, after it was reviewed and accepted by the SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers). The DOCSIS project is managed by Arthur D. Little, Inc.

DOCSIS is administered by CableLabs (Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.), a consortium of cable television system operators that plans and funds research and development projects for the cable industry. CableLabs has a certification program that performs interoperability testing for vendors that wish to label their cable modems as DOCSIS compatible.