One of the most important questions about the future of Sirius XM, content-wise, wasn’t mentioned until the very end of Wednesday morning’s quarterly call with analysts: what about Howard Stern’s expiring five-year deal? Sirius XM CFO David Frear brought that up himself, at the very end of the call. He says “We hope that prior to the third quarter earnings call, we will be able to have an announcement as to what is going on with Howard.” None of the analysts brought it up. Stern himself, after a flurry of outside speculation earlier this year that he obviously enjoyed, has kept a lid on it. In the Spring, there was talk of Stern joining “American Idol.” His lucrative Sirius Satellite Radio contract expires in December.