Dyke all but issued an ultimatum to the Independent Television Commission, saying that the corporation would find it hard to justify continuing spending at current levels on its digital channels.
Speaking at the Insitute of Economic Affairs conference on the future of broadcasting, Dyke said: "If another bid wins... it's hard to see how the BBC could justify spending even more money on digital terrestrial television."
He also raised the question as to whether a new digital terrestrial service, which was not provided by the BBC but carried BBC content, would provide adequate value for money for licence-fee payers.
He told the conference: "We will, of course, continue to broadcast our channels but we're already spending around £20m a year on DTT to reach around 1m people -- this is not good value for licence fee money. We'd have to think very hard before spending extra money on transmission and marketing or giving it extra on-air promotion if we couldn't see it pulling through."
The BBC's bid would provide a free-to-air only digital terrestrial service offering 24 channels. Dyke said the service could have 5m subscribers in five to six years, which would help put the government's plan to switch off the analogue signal by 2010 back on track.
Dyke's speech ended with a stark warning as he told delegrates that he believed that there was only one choice if the future of digital terrestrial broadcasting in the UK is to be secured.
"There is only one last chance for DTT. This is not a time for splitting difference, backroom politics or settling old scores," he said.
Dyke's bid won support from Michael Grade, the former chief executive of Channel 4. He has thrown his weight behind the BBC's bid and said he was surprised that C4 had joined a rival bid backed by ITV.
He said that rather than throw its lot in with "ITV Digital 2", it had a better chance with the BBC-BSkyB bid.
The BBC's bid faces competition from a bid from ITV and Channel 4 and two other bids backed by venture capitalists. The ITC has until July 4 to award the licence.
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