Dozens of television stations around the country have agreed to sell their frequencies on the broadcast spectrum to wireless companies, which collectively paid nearly $20 billion dollars to use the airwaves for increasing cell phone traffic.

Eight stations in the Boston area, plus a handful in Providence, sold their frequencies; some agreed to go off the air altogether, while others are moving elsewhere on the broadcast spectrum.

Viewers of the stations remaining on the air shouldn’t notice much difference when the changes are made in about a year, although those who tune in using over-the-air antennas may need to have their televisions “re-scan” to find the stations at their new frequencies.