Jackson footage to be locked away

The British television company that angered Michael Jackson with a documentary about his life promised a London judge Friday it would lock away unseen footage until its dispute with him is resolved.

Jackson’s lawyers had planned to seek an injunction barring Granada from airing outtakes from its interviews with the pop singer until his claim about journalist Martin Bashir’s program is settled.

They agreed instead to accept Granada’s legally binding promise to keep the footage in secure conditions at the company’s London headquarters until an April court hearing. The company also said it wouldn’t release the program, “Living With Michael Jackson,” on video or DVD.

Jackson, 44, has said he felt “more betrayed than perhaps ever before” by the documentary, in which he said he sometimes lets children sleep in his bed and Bashir expressed concern about Jackson’s treatment of his three children.

The singer’s lawyers argue that Bashir “breached the terms on which he was permitted to film Jackson.”

Granada lawyer Geoffrey Hobbs said the company did nothing wrong and that its promise to secure the footage implied no admission of improper behavior.