The network announced it will no longer be producing “Counting On,” the family reality series that’s a spin-off of the popular “19 Kids and Counting” … which ended its run back in 2015.

Josh — one of the stars of ’19 Kids’ — was arrested by the feds in late April and charged with 2 counts of child pornography. He’s accused of knowingly receiving child porn in May 2019 and knowingly possessing images of child pornography … including images of minors below the age of 12.

Josh Duggar mug shot
TLC makes it clear … the case is why it’s pulling the plug, saying it “feels it is important to give the Duggar family the opportunity to address their situation privately.”

Addressing the case in any way on the show would have been a legal risk for Duggar … while not addressing it would mean producers were ignoring the biggest elephant in the room.

Josh has been granted jail release pending his trial, which was recently pushed to November.