WMVS and WMVT share a digital signal on
VHF channel 8; the stations respectively map to their respective former analog channel allocations via
virtual channels 10 and 36. All of the
digital subchannels mentioned below broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Until September 1, 2010, WMVS provided its main channel feed in
1080i HD, while WMVT's digital channel was used for
simulcasting in
480i standard definition. However, with the complexities of the digital transition causing viewers to be unable to receive WMVS's VHF over-the-air signal – as has been a major problem in other markets – the Milwaukee PBS stations re-mapped their digital channels on September 1, 2010, in order to maximize their services, and to prepare for WMVT's 36.1 channel to eventually be transmitted in high definition in response to viewer demand. The main 10.1 signal was also reduced to
720p, as opposed to PBS's preferred 1080i format. Most of the services also broadcast over
Time Warner Cable's
digital tier on that provider's southeastern Wisconsin systems, and began to be carried on
Charter Communications systems on October 15, 2008 (although Charter did not purchase and absorb Time Warner Cable until 2016). WMVS and WMVT were once unique in American television for not providing a digital simulcast of the stations' programming schedule for their analog channels, and the channels were transposed, with the multicast carried over WMVS' channel 8, and the HD signal featuring channel 10's programming (which until 2007 only featured PBS'
basic HD schedule with oft-repeated programming) on channel 35, WMVT's digital allocation; this was done in order to give the stations' main signal the best possible coverage area with low interference, as WMVS-DT shared a frequency with the analog channel 8 signal of
NBC affiliate
WOOD-TV in
Grand Rapids, Michigan. WOOD-TV's analog signal propagated easily across
Lake Michigan and was sometimes receivable clearly in the lakeshore communities of
Port Washington and
Sheboygan. WOOD-TV likewise placed
translator stations in
Muskegon and
Holland to avert cross-lake interference from WMVS-DT and to provide extended analog service for those communities. The issues between WOOD-TV and WMVS remained until the June 12, 2009
digital transition, when WOOD-TV shut down its analog signal on channel 8 to broadcast exclusively over digital channel 7. The simulcasting situation was rectified on September 1, 2008, with both stations launching a simulcast of both channels' analog signals on their digital broadcast feeds ahead of the original February 17, 2009, digital switchover date and beginning broadcasts on their own signals. At that time, MPTV's
PBS Kids channel, which formerly aired on 10.3, was discontinued due to PBS ceasing the
PBS Kids Channel service to focus more on the cable-only
PBS Kids Sprout until its sale to
NBCUniversal in 2013, and WMVS' 5 a.m. – 6 p.m. weekday schedule shifted to entirely children's programming to compensate. To assuage viewers in one of the show's most popular markets, MPTV promised to continue to carry ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' weekdays at noon despite PBS ending national distribution of the program on a five-day-a-week basis; this ended in late January 2010 with a sharp increase in program rights payments for the series by its distributor (the program now only airs on Sunday mornings). Due to the bandwidth required for subchannels, and budget concerns, WMVT's main 36.1 signal remained in standard definition until February 7, 2011, when it was converted to high definition. A secondary
translator station for WMVS broadcasting on UHF channel 36 signed on the air on August 14, 2012, transmitting from the MPTV Tower to better serve the main portion of WMVS' service area with UHF-only antennas. Also planned is a boost in power of the main WMVS signal courtesy of a Public Telecommunications Facilities Program award. The channel 36 translator relayed all four multicast feeds on WMVS, and to allow differentiation between the 8 and 36 channels and reduced confusion, the virtual channel info added a "1" before the subchannel designation, thus the 36 translator aired virtual channels 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14. After the
DTV Delay Act was passed by the U.S. Congress, MPTV, along with Milwaukee's commercial
Big Four network stations and two other full-power stations, decided to convert to digital-only broadcasts on the rescheduled transition date of June 12, 2009, instead. WMVS and WMVT wound down their analog broadcasting operations at 9 a.m. on that date, prefaced with a broadcast of the station's inaugural introduction followed by the national anthem, "
The Star-Spangled Banner", then a final display of the
Indian Head test card and test tone before both stations signed off their analog service. Unusually, Milwaukee PBS never introduced any
second audio program channels allowing the use of services such as
Descriptive Video Service on their digital channels for over a decade after launch, a rarity in the PBS system as DVS is usually expected as a regular feature (DVS and SAP were available during the analog age on both stations). This was not rectified until February 2016, when WMVS and WMVT added second and third audio program streams to all of their channels, allowing viewers to utilize DVS, along with English translation for the
Spanish language program
¡Adelante!. MPTV was the last major station in the Milwaukee market to add SAP and DVS services, eight months after FCC requirements regarding
audio description came into effect for the Milwaukee market for major commercial stations, though they are voluntary for non-commercial broadcasters. In November 2016, Milwaukee Public Television switched its branding to Milwaukee PBS to better illuminate its role as the PBS member station group for Milwaukee, and in line with the launch of the PBS Passport service where a yearly donation to the station allows access to archive programming, and a new
PBS Kids channel. On August 31, 2017, Milwaukee PBS discontinued two audio channels carried by WMVT; Milwaukee PBS Classical on 36.4, which carried programming from
WFMT/
Chicago's "
Beethoven Satellite Network", and Milwaukee PBS Jazz on 36.5, which carried programming from WFMT's "Jazz Satellite Network", due to WMVT's upcoming spectrum merger with WMVS and to save revenue from costly carriage agreements with WFMT. Sinclair,
Weigel Broadcasting, and Milwaukee PBS all decided on a switch date of January 8, 2018, for their various local spectrum moves. At that time, both WMVS and WMVT remapped their channels on physical channel 8, with WMVT retaining their main signal on 36.1 in HD, with
World moving to 36.2 and MPTV's weather service mapping to 36.3. WMVS then mapped to their main service on 10.1 in HD, with
Create on 10.2 and PBS Kids remaining on 10.3. Despite the channel share, the inner-core channel 36 translator mapped to channels 10.11-10.13 did not repeat WMVT's channels, and only repeated those of WMVS. The translator service was ended in mid-June 2020 as another after-effect of the spectrum auction where it was required to end service, as 36 is the last channel in the new UHF bandplan (though
WMKE-CD would take it over as their physical channel shortly after).
Subchannels ==Instructional division==