What bothers me is that most companies are now going to be forced to purchase .xxx domains simply to keep someone else from buying it

That's the norm for new tld and a part of the their owners business plan. Probably most of their income given how little I see them used directly.

and sullying the company's image.

In this case which would sully our name more, registering bbc.xxx ourselves or a 3rd party who is clearly not us once people see the content? brandon