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Is it possible to watch cable TV (specifically Comcast in Massachusetts) through the monitor of a computer running Ubuntu? If so, what additional hardware and software are required for this? Better yet, is there a step-by-step how-to for something like this?

You will also need some software. I like MythTV, and it has a list of digital tuners that work with MythTV.

There are also analog tuners, but you will probably need a digital tuner unless you have a digital to analog converter box. The signal may be encrypted, so you may need to use the box and get an analog tuner.

Here is a page with links to different supported cards.

I know nothing about ubuntu but the hardware you need is called a TV tuner card. Actually I think they make external ones too. Make sure it accepts the cable input (coax or whatever). The software will then allow you to watch TV in a window and you can continue working with the OS. You can also record. I found this via google, maybe this app is the right one to use with your hardware: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=230279

Use a TV cable box converter with a HDMI output port and install a plugNplay HDMI to USB converter device (USB Capture HDMI Video Card -see Amazon), as almost all computers do not have a HDMI input port. (WARNING: do NOT use a Hauppauge device in a linux environment!!). Connect to USB(3.0) port on computer (3.0 is NECESSARY for performance). Make sure that if there are other USB audio input devices, such as a plugNplay USB microphone, that they are NOT plugged in the same USB hub to avoid IRQ issues.

VLC is the obvious choice of software to use to play the capture stream, but it unfortunately has timing issues with starting both audio and video emanating from the same capture device and seems to give preference to video over audio. Thus, MOST of the time, VLC fails to set the default audio output device, so there is no sound!. This appears to be a deficiency in the latest 2.2.2 weathermax VLC software that can be installed via the deb package. (Install of VLC 3.0.6 using snap has its own issues, including this one, and is not recommended!). (MPlayer and the OBS software both exhibit variable latency with the sound. Without the sound issues, either MPlayer or VLC by themselves would be the obvious solution.) Until this VLC issue is resolved, use separate programs for the audio and the video!!!!. After some experimentation, use this SHELL SCRIPT (eg. /PATH/NAME.sh '1' '3')

Load MPlayer WITHOUT sound and with window size and screen position as shown. Adjust position and size as desired according to monitor size. The video hardware input device is specified by the first shell script input variable.

mplayer tv:// -tv device=/dev/video$1 -xy 500 -geometry 1395:765 & 

Configure VLC to allow multiple instances and disable resizing of window to video size (see VLC-Tools-Preferences).

Start VLC with capture device the default webcamera (usually video0). The audio hardware input device of the HDMI/USB converter is specified by the second shell script input variable.
#VLC WILL PLAY THE AUDIO RELIABLY WITHOUT LATENCY!
The no-video parameter seems superfluous since VLC will still open up the default webcam, just not show it. But it appears to help with speed of audio acquisition. The default webcam is still in use and cannot be used for other purposes such as Skype while this instance of VLC is active.

vlc v4l2:///dev/video0 :input-slave=alsa://hw:$2,0 --no-video

Squeeze the VLC vertical video size to zero, leaving just the VLC control bar visible so you can still control the audio. Adjust VLC width accordingly and position the VLC control bar on the screen, consistent with MPlayer position. (VLC will from then on automatically assume this placement and size on reloads.)

This hybrid solution is 100% reliable and also is more efficient in CPU utilization than VLC alone (when VLC alone works cleanly!). Use the cable box remote to control the TV channel you watch, including streaming channels that the cable service supports (and you have paid for!). Below is what it looks like.

A MPlayer only shell script that also works is:

pulse-audio -k #(not sure if this is needed)

pactl load-module module-loopback latency_msec=1 

mplayer tv:// -tv device=/dev/video1 -xy 500 -geometry 1395:765

wait

pactl unload-module module-loopback

It leaves the default webcam available for use but it is unpredictable whether sound latency occurs or does not occur. I'm sure someone has an answer but I don't know it. The same is true for the OBS software. It definitely appears when other programs are active that use sound.

I much prefer the combination MPlayer/VLC shell script because of its reliability and its INDEPENDENT AUDIO CONTROL through VLC. You can run additional programs that use sound (including additional VLC instances) without sound issues.