A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– The current economic downturn could make it tougher for new-model, free, ad-supported sites to find the support they expected when starting up.

– Young adults, those aged 18 to 29, are watching TV less often then members of the older age groups. That could direct young-seeking advertisers to the Web more.

– SI.com’s Peter King sees the new deal the Cowboys recently gave WR Roy Williams as a bad sign for the NFL’s labor health. There has been speculation over the past year or so that the league could be in danger of a 2011 work stoppage if it doesn’t work out a new collective bargaining agreement within the next couple of seasons.

– Fantasy Sports Ventures was the fourth largest gainer percentagewise in unique visitors in September, according to comScore rankings. Unique visitors to the site increased by 48 percent over August.

– MyFantasyLeague.com is offering free midseason football leagues.

– Fanball brings the NBA fantasy draft kit to iPhone and iPod Touch users.

Although head-to-head competition already exists in fantasy basketball, Hotbox Sports offers a different take.

The site breaks down the NBA schedule into three-game chunks, with each collection of games representing a single fantasy matchup. Fantasy owners set a regular lineup of positions to be determined by the league but choose just one game within the three-day window for which each player can collect stats.

For example, if Kobe Bryant is playing the Clippers on Tuesday and the Kings on Wednesday, his owners must choose whether to activate him for Tuesday or Wednesday within the Monday-Wednesday matchup window. All settings must be finalized before games start on Monday.

At the end of each three-day period, one team gets a loss and the other a win, based on the total fantasy points accumulated by each lineup.

The site officially launched on Oct. 1 – though it has been online since Sept. 15 — and is powered by Fanball. Co-founder Jeff Ciminera — one of eight founders — tells FSB.com that the company was started in 2005 around the basketball concept, which has a federal patent pending.

The site also provides NBA player news and content from Fanball.com and RotoTimes.com, as well as original content from the site’s creators.

Ciminera says that although basketball is getting things going, the plan is to add hockey next year and then potentially branch out into other sports as well. He sees soccer, in particular, as an area of opportunity because current fantasy leagues within the sport typically focus on one of the major international leagues. Hotbox’s idea is to combine the major leagues into a single player base, which would cater to more casual soccer fans.

“Now you can use all the big players,” Ciminera says, pointing out that stars such as David Beckham and Ronaldinho reside in separate leagues.