Public television had a good thing going while it lasted. Now it’s losing its taxpayer-funded safety net, and all bets are off.

PBS once flew above the pedestrian fray of commercial television, offering a liberal dose of intellectual diversions. But as the broadcast landscape changed with cable TV, streaming channels, and subscription packages, the public television audience and revenue started slipping. Editor and Publisher pointed to a study by TRAC Media for the Public Television Major Market Group last year, which found that over-the-air prime-time viewership of PBS stations is down by half in the past decade, and public television is only recapturing a tiny fraction of that audience via its streaming platforms.

Fortunately, it had a rich Uncle Sam to help with the bills. The opera could go on.

Now Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR has upended everything.

The EO instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.” The White House, in a social media posting, said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’ ”

The reason for cutting off the money spigot is whipping up liberal frenzy and overriding a bigger issue: why are taxpayers funding television and radio stations at all?

Our taxes don’t fund HBO or the Discovery Channel, or any of the hundreds of ways viewers get their content. Why public television and radio?

Once upon a time, PBS was groundbreaking, especially with children’s educational programming, in-depth documentaries and the science programming of “NOVA.” You couldn’t catch the ballet or opera or vintage films on “regular TV.”

Then came the choice behemoth that was cable, and subsequently streaming. Public television is no longer filling an unmet need. So why is the government still writing checks?

And now that they likely won’t be, it’s putting the PBS business model in harsh light. Revenue and audience loss means layoffs. It’s inevitable.

Locally, GBH is slashing about 6% of its workforce aid Trump’s federal funding moves.  The media outlet is cutting 45 employees. This is the second straight year of widespread layoffs at GBH.

“GBH is being impacted by several dynamics at once: federal funding cuts, rising costs of doing business, and the need to evolve our work to meet audiences’ needs,” Susan Goldberg, president and CEO of GBH, said in a statement.

In other words, these aren’t the good old days, we need to stand on our own, rethink the budget and get the audiences back. Much like any corporation must when hitting financial headwinds.

During the fiscal year that ended last June, GBH’s total operating expenses were $291.9 million, while the station’s total operating revenue came in at $279.6 million — for a deficit of $12.3 million. For a station that runs so much Suze Orman, that’s a big financial wake-up call.

But it’s not the taxpayer’s job to fix.

Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel (Creators Syndicate)