After delaying the deadline earlier this year, the FCC and broadcasters are entering the home stretch ahead of the digital TV transition cutover date (June 12, one week from tomorrow). In a statement (pdf), interim FCC boss Michael Copps makes a funny, telling anyone who thinks there will be another delay that they "had better wake up and smell the converter box." While many thought an additional delay wasn't necessary, Copps insists the FCC has made great strides:Roughly 784 stations have already made the switch., while an additional 974 will make the transition next Friday. The FCC has announced that 35 stations will go dark entirely -- most of them because they could not afford the costs related to the transition. The government has handed out 58 million coupons to help consumers buy digital gear, more than six million of which haven't been used yet.

Despite months of efforts the FCC still expects a significant number of Americans to be caught completely unaware by the transition -- though the FCC argues that number has dropped substantially in four months. The latest data from Nielsen suggests just 2.7% of Americans are going to be caught unaware (the majority of them seniors), down from more than 6% at the beginning of the year.

If you're interested, the FCC runs a map aimed at helping over the air fans figure out what kind of signals they'll see post transition, though many people seem to prefer the maps over at TV fool.